Paradise Hunter
by RVA-Writer
Summary: DEVA has detected the rouge AI Frontier Setter using its satellites to bounce signals back to earth. Could it be trying to contact Former Third Officer Angela Balzac? They cannot risk it. System Security Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey will be sent to investigate. Cover Image by HoboArt (See my profile for links to his other work)
1. Prologue

"Are we positive that the readings are correct?"

"Affirmative. We have verified that there is a signal from the surface that is being redirected by the DEVA satellite."

"Have we been able to decode the signal."

"Negative, though we have seen the signature before."

"Frontier Setter?"

"Affirmative."

"Our intelligence suggest that Frontier Setter has left the system and is no longer a threat to DEVA."

"It appears that this is not the case. Frontier Setter was confirmed to be a self-aware AI. It is our belief that such an abomination could replicate itself. Effectively being in two places at once."

"Is Former System Security Third Officer Angela Balzac aware that this replication remains?"

"We cannot know, our intelligence on the surface has not been able to locate her since the departure of the Genesis Ark."

"What of the whereabouts of Agent Zarik Kajiwara."

"Negative, he has also eluded us since the departure of the Genesis Ark."

"At this time we must work on assumptions. We will assume that Frontier Setter replicated itself before the departure and is now trying to contact Former Third Officer Angela Balzac and Agent Zarik Kajiwara."

"To what ends?"

"The infiltration and possibly the sabotage or destruction of DEVA."

"Course of action?"

"Summon System Security Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey."

"She trained with Former Third Office Angela Balzac. I believe they were friends."

"Would that make her the best candidate to carry out this mission. We have seen the folly of emotion and personal connection."

"This connection is why we will use her. She knows Former Third Officer Angela Balzac well and will be able to determine what course of action would be best suited for this mission."

"Very well, we will summon her."

* * *

"System Security Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey, you have been summoned here to take charge of a special operation. As you know, Former Third Officer Angela Balzac has betrayed DEVA and allowed the AI known as Frontier Setter to escape destruction."

"We have begun to receive signals that have the same signature as those used by the AI."

"You have been tasked to travel to the surface and locate the source of this signal and destroy it and whatever may remain of Frontier Setter. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand."

"As you also know, Frontier Setter was the cause for the betrayal of Former Third Officer Balzac. You must not be tempted by the same."

"I will not let you down. Angela has disgraced our unit and our class. I will see to it that she is brought to justice."

"You are not to return her to DEVA, you are to destroy her material body while she is still in it. Do you understand?"

"Understood. I will not rest until she has been found and her material body has been destroyed."

"Very well. Select five other System Security officers as your back up and prepare your team."

"Is that necessary? Last time she was armed with a state-of-the-art ARHAN. She can be no match for even one of us now."

"This will be your first mission to the surface Third Officer, you do not know how large it is. Your team will form squads of two ARHANs each and hunt her down."

"We will not fail."

"You will not return to DEVA if you do."

* * *

"Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey. We will fabricate an optimized material body using your gene cache, stored at your birth. Maturation, 35 hours."

"Good. I'm coming for you Angela and you will see why you do not cross DEVA."


	2. Paradise Returns

Angela Balzac had only been on the surface for three weeks and she still hated it. The smells, the heat, the dirt, her heavy material body. She missed the virtual world of DEVA were she had been important. She had been an agent of DEVA, System Security Third Officer, a job that demanded respect and even fear from the other residents of DEVA. Meanwhile, here on the surface, she was no one. Just a child to be coddled and looked down one. She had cut the maturation of her material body in order to get a jump on the search for the hacker, Frontier Setter. Now, after getting expelled from DEVA, she was stuck in this body. All because it turned out she had a moral code she wasn't even aware of until she tried to plead Frontier Setter's case to the High Officials. All he wanted to do was explore space, but DEVA had long decided that space exploration was not necessary. It had actually been abandoned even before the Nano Incident.

Now, she was in exile. DEVA hadn't even bothered to send agents after her. After the Genesis Ark had escaped orbit all of the agents sent to stop it had been recalled leaving her here. Frontier Setter had given her a chance to go with him, and for the past week she had been wondering if she had made a mistake by staying behind, but the thought of this new world had intrigued her. Even in its desolation it was beautiful and she wanted to explore and learn about the home to all of humanity. Things hadn't gone the way she had hoped. As it turns out, living life in DEVA gives one a certain impatience. If you don't like the scenery, you can just move to a different map. Even the low resolution public servers where better that this, being stuck in the same dusty hill for three days. The truck was no better with its hot interior, strong odor, and fine layer of dust covering everything. Why did there have to be so much dust?

Dingo, the surface agent that had been assigned to her when she left to track down Frontier Setter, was no help either. She was glad she had a friend, at least she thought he was a friend, but his optimism was bordering on insufferable now, even with the truck broken. Since his buggy had been destroyed helping protect the Genesis Ark he had to walk to the nearest town to get the required part and had been gone for two of the three days she had been here on the same dusty hill. He had asked her to remain with the truck just in case any scavengers had happened by and tried to get what good parts it did have. So she sat here and waited. She half hoped scavengers would show up, it would give her something to do burn off the frustration and boredom.

Then, there was the sun. Life on DEVA had never prepared her for this. It was bright, and hot, so hot. With only her flight suit, long white blonde hair and Frontier Setter's red cap to protect her she had developed a sun burn a few days ago so bad it hurt to touch her legs and arms. These material bodies where so frail. She didn't know how people on the surface could stand living in such a harsh world. The lived such primitive lives down here, having to rely on things like food, sleep and even shelter. Angela had never known sleep when she was on DEVA or hunger, sickness, or pain. Now, down here, she was becoming all too familiar with it.

Yes, she was beginning to believe she had made a big mistake, not by helping Frontier Setter, she had to do that, but by getting involved in this whole thing. She had been so eager to prove herself, to be the best. When the High Officials gave her the mission, she jumped on it. Even sticking herself in this material body in order to get the head start. She wanted to be the one that was responsible for protecting DEVA from the surface. She had always wanted to be the best. Even when she was training to be a System Security officer, she pushed herself to be the top of her class and out shine the other girls. She was the first to make Third Officer in her class, she was so proud. A lot of good that pride did her now, she was stuck. Dusty, smelly, and sun burnt with no relief in sight.

Angela stood up and picked up Dingo's rifle he had left her with and started back down the hill toward the truck. Before she made it even half way down she could see a cloud of dust in the distance apparently heading her way. She tried to see if she could see the source using the scope of the rifle with no luck. If she still had her ARHAN, the large combat mech she had been sent with, she would be able to easily identify it, but that was in her past now. No support from DEVA, no ARHAN. That was just the truth of the matter, they just didn't function correctly without satellite support. She sighed heavily as she lowered the rifle and started back toward the truck. It would be dark by the time whatever was coming would reach her. At least she had time to prepare if it was scavengers.

By the time night had fully fallen, Angela was on the roof of the truck trying to find the dust cloud in the distant darkness. Unless whatever it was had turned off or stopped it should almost be right on top of her. She scanned the area through the scope but was only met with inky blackness, another thing DEVA had never prepared her for. She heard the source of the cloud before she saw it. The sound of an engine and tires rolling on the packed sand of the road directed her attention to the rear of the truck. She had left the lights off in order to hide her position, but now she wanted to see her target so she toggled the bright flood lamps on the back of the truck.

The night was chased away as the light filled the area for a good distance behind the truck. In the light she could see a buggy speeding toward her, the driver's poncho flowing behind him. She leveled the rifle again and took aim. Through the scope she could she the brown haired, bearded man she knew as Dingo. She could see the slight smirk on his face that he never seemed to lose as he tipped his bowler hat to her. He obviously knew he was in her sights, he had an odd way of knowing when he was being watched.

As he pulled up behind the truck he jumped out of the buggy and began to pull packages and bags out of the back. Angela laid the rifle on the roof and jumped down to see what he had brought with him. The buggy was nothing special, much like his old one, a simple roll cage, two seats, an open engine and some racks for storage in the back. The bags appeared to hold food and other supplies of that nature while the packages seemed to be the parts he needed for the truck. One package she looked at contained a heavy coat, pants, shirts and various other clothing.

"Hey there," Dingo chirped, "I see you found the clothes."

"What are these for," Angela asked as she picked through them. She had actually never put clothes on in her entire life.

"Well," Dingo appraised her, "that DEVA uniform doesn't work out here on the surface."

"I like my uniform!" Angela stomped her foot. "What is wrong with it?"

"You got that sun burn for one," he smirked. She hated that smirk.

"Fine," she crossed her arms over herself, "I'll change."

The new clothes felt heavy and restrictive. She had opted for a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She kept her boots, the ones that Dingo had bought her didn't feel right and didn't really fit anyway. She didn't know what the scraps of material that she found were for but Dingo had said they were important. However, she felt constricted enough, she didn't need additional layers. It took Dingo an hour to convince her to wear the coat, but now that she sat out on the hill, in the dust and the desert night cold, she was thankful for its warmth.

Then she saw something that she didn't think she would see ever again. Six balls of fire were falling from the sky. They blazed a hot red in the night. She knew what they were. Agents, DEVA agents in ARHANs. Were they coming for her? No, there had to be something else. They had expelled her, abandoned her. There was no way they wanted her now. Either way, she felt she had to do something.

"Dingo!" she screamed as she ran down the hill, the new coat flapping behind her. "Dingo!" she called again as she approached the truck.

Dingo came running out with his pistol in his hand, "Angela, what is it?"

Angela pointed to the horizon, "It's DEVA," she gulped loudly, "they're back."


	3. On the Surface

The six women stood on the crest of a crater created by one of their ARHANs crashing into the planet surface. Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey stood the most forward scanning the horizon with her monocular. With her where the other five Third Officers: Tiffany Hayden, Olga Aerovick, Chun Su, Elizabeth Smith and Shweta Nishma. Both Elizabeth and Shweta had been here before, evident by their quick adjustment to their material bodies. The other four women were still getting acclimatized, even Jennifer swayed slightly as she stood there scanning.

The surface contacts were heading their way, three men of possibly questionable character that only wanted one thing, the satellite scans of local ore and the money they could make off that information. She focused on them, all three in a single vehicle and looking dirty and surly. She had never dealt with surface dwellers before and hoped they didn't all look like this. Ragged beards, dirty faces, shabby clothes and a shocking lack of hair on their heads. Not all three were completely bald, just the one. The other two showed just the tops of their scalps with long wisp of hair blowing behind them. It was bad enough that this material body was heavy and sluggish, the air reeked of decay and it was hot. Now she had to deal with the likes of these surface dwellers. Though they may by S Class agents, they certainly didn't look like it.

The driver of the vehicle pulled it to a stop a few paces away and the three jumped out. He was the bald one with a thick unkempt beard and wide, dark glasses. Jennifer knew they would stink and she was right, the smell caused her to recoil and cover her face. The man only grinned as he closed the final distance. He stood in front of her as close as he could without touching her, something she believed he had done on purpose. Nothing on DEVA ever smelled this bad, and if it did she could just cut that sense out, she wondered how Angela could have ever left DEVA for this, this awful place called Earth. She already hated it.

"Hey, there missy," the man's teeth were black and crooked. "I'm guessing you are in charge of this little outing."

Jennifer didn't uncover her face, "I am System Security Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey. You must be," she hesitated, she had seen all their pictures in the briefing but with all the dirty and stink they all looked the same to her.

"I'm Agent Fox," he pounded his chest, "but my friends call me Tony."

"Well, Agent Fox," she said pointedly as she dropped her hand, "we won't have to worry about that. These are…"

Fox nodded, "We read the dossier, we know who you are. More than I can say for you."

Jennifer looked taken back, "I have as well but you," she paused looking for words.

"Savages?", Fox grinned showing his black teeth again. "We know what you DEVA folks think about us. But we ain't failed you yet, so let's talk payment."

She had been warned that the humans on the surface only cared about one thing, money. "I have the scans; you get paid when the mission is complete. That is the agreement."

"Alright, alright," Fox snarled. "So you are looking for one of your own that has gone rouge then? And where do we come in?"

"We," Jennifer motioned to her fellow officers, "are looking for a rouge AI that goes by the label of Frontier Setter. Our lost sister is our concern."

"Never heard of it," Fox shook his head. "Got anything else to go on?"

"This AI may be trying to contact Former Third Officer Balzac."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Fox was clearly getting agitated.

"Possibly with a surface dweller," those words came out as if they tasted bad, "code name, Dingo."

The three men looked at each other and Jennifer could tell the name meant something to them. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. They began to speak a language that she didn't understand, firing back at each other in rapid succession. Jennifer looked back at her team to see Officer Elizabeth step forward. She obviously understood what they were saying as her eyes dated between each of the men as they spoke. Suddenly, she spoke in what Jennifer could only assume was the same language. The three men stopped speaking and stared at her in wide eyed amazement.

"They know of this Dingo," Elizabeth turned to Jennifer, "and they seem to have great respect for his name."

"You don't say," Jennifer narrowed her eyes as she looked from Elizabeth back to the contacts. "Please, tell me why you have such respect for this man."

There was a long pause, only the desert winds broke the silence. "Look sweetie," Fox finally spoke, "you just don't go hunting Dingo down. If he don't want to be found, he ain't found. Don't they teach you anything in that prison in the sky?"

Jennifer took a few steps closer to them, mustering her resolve to withstand the reek coming off of them. "First," she pointed a stiff finger at Fox, "I am your superior on this mission so you will address me accordingly. Second," she thrusted her finger into his chest, "if you withhold information about the whereabouts of known fugitives your payment is forfeit and you will never receive work from DEVA again."

"Hey, hey," Fox exclaimed as he stepped back, "calm down. It just so happens I saw Dingo just the other day. About a day from here in a little town to the east." He gathered the courage to push her accusing finger away. "He was alone; he didn't have anyone with him."

"No?" Jennifer scowled at him. "That doesn't mean he cannot tell us where the Former Officer is."

"Lady," he black grin emerged again, "you really don't know Dingo. Ain't no man of this earth going to get anything out of him that he don't want to give."

"Well," she turned back to her team, "I'm not a man, and I'm not of this earth. Officers, mount up."

With that, the six women ran to their ARHANs and jumped in the cockpits. The display lit with the tactical information provided by DEVA as it established communication their individual operators back home. Jennifer had done simulated training in an ARHAN before, but nothing beat the actual tactile feeling of straddling the seat and taking the controls. This was the only use she could see for a material body.

Fox turned to his companions, "Indigo," the heavier of the two men looked at him, "you ran with Dingo once. Any ideas where he might be hold up?"

"No," he shook his head, "none what so ever. It's like you said Mr. Fox. Dingo doesn't get found unless Dingo wants to be found."

"I guess we got our jobs cut out for us boys," Fox sighed. "But if we have to take Dingo out, let's make if from a distance. Hopefully we see him first."

"And if we don't?" the third man questioned.

"Well, Turbo, then this will be the shortest DEVA contract any of us have ever had."

With that, they jumped back into their vehicle and headed off to the east. If Dingo was in hiding, he was in that town for a reason and somebody would have information they needed. How much it cost was another matter entirely, but DEVA did pay well and the people stuck down here often didn't argue with good pay. Even if Fox had to pay them cash, DEVA would compensate him. The six ARHANs behind them took flight and followed closely behind. How much Fox hated those things, DEVA could use them to wipe out the whole planet and the only reason they didn't was because the people left behind were scum not worth the effort unless DEVA as threatened directly. Fox hoped that Dingo would take out at least one or two of those infernal women before they got him. He knew Dingo was at least good for that much.


	4. What Now

Midas was like the rest of the towns Angela had been in, a collection of ramshackle buildings cobbled together from whatever material that could be scavenged. She hated these population centers at the best of times, and now that DEVA agents might be looking for her and Dingo, she really didn't like it. Dingo had insisted, saying they had to find out if anyone knew what the agents wanted, and that he knew a guy in Midas that would be one of the first to know, a man named Peter. Now she stood in the back of the hot, dank room listening to Dingo and Peter discuss the situation with no understanding of what they were saying as they exchanged rapidly in the surface language. When she was with DEVA, her operator would have translated it for her, but now she was at Dingo's mercy.

Dingo shook hands with Peter and turned back to Angela, he didn't look like he had heard good news. With a slight nod of his head, he walked past her and out into the narrow alleyway. Angela moved in behind him wishing he would just tell her what the guy had said, but he never seemed to talk to her where other people could hear. Most likely because of her age she imagined, of course he wouldn't want people to think he was working with a kid.

"It's not good," he leaned heavily against a wall, pulled his hat off and wiped his brow.

"So, what did you find out?" Angela crossed her arms.

"DEVA has started picking up a signal from the surface," he put his hat back on.

"Another hack?"

"No, some kind of communication that is being bounced off their satellites to extend the range down here. They think Frontier Setter never left."

"But we saw him shutdown when he took over the Genesis Ark."

"That's not all, Angela," he straightened up and looked at her through narrow eyes, "they think Frontier Setter is trying to contact you. The agents were sent down here not only to see if Frontier Setter is still here, but to eliminate you before they return, and me if they get the chance."

"I was so stupid," she snatched the red cap off her head, "I should have known they wouldn't have left me alone."

"I guess not," Dingo sighed, "Six DEVA agents and three surface agents. He said they were in Brighton about two days ago asking around. Then they split up into three teams and he hasn't heard anything about them since."

"Brighton?" Angela had a look of recollection, "Wasn't that where you were to get the parts?" Dingo just nodded. "And with ARHANs they could be anywhere. What are we going to do?"

"Well, if Frontier Setter is still here, we need to find him before they do."

"Do you think he's at the launch site?" her voice was heavy with concern.

"Not likely," Dingo shook his head. "I think we need to try to intercept that communication and see if it his him. Peter told me of an old broadcasting station about three days north of here. If we can get it online, we might be able to figure out what is going on. Our first priority is to get out of town though. We don't need any more people knowing we were here than already do."

"Do you think Peter would identify you?" putting her cap back on as they started to walk.

"Money talks, Angela," Dingo said grimly. "Especially with people like Peter. No," he shook his head gently, "we can assume that he would sell us out if the offer was right."

When Angela had last faced off with DEVA agents, she was in a state-of-the-art ARHAN with Frontier Setter giving her tactical support and Dingo providing much needed back up. Now, it was just two material bodies against six well trained, armed, and armored agents. Most like Third Officers, or worse, SpecOps. The thought scared her, she had known one of the SpecOps girls at DEVA, and she was scary. No, she didn't want to see one of those black ARHANs anytime soon.

Dingo had picked up the pace as they headed back toward the truck, glancing around as if looking for something. He grabbed her by the arm and lead her into one of the lean-tos that served as a shop. At first, she thought he had seen something on the street that he didn't like and was trying to hide, but when her eyes adjusted to the gloom inside she realized that the shop is what he was looking for.

There was a single glass case against the back wall of the small building with a short, skinny man with long dirty hair seated on a stool behind it. The case contained various handguns and the wall held a number of rifles and shelves filled with boxes that must have contained ammunition. Dingo nodded to the man as he looked up to see who had entered his shop.

"Whatcha, friend?" he said as he came to his feet with an unfriendly smile.

"Looking for something for my friend here," Dingo motioned to Angela.

"Little young for a shooter ain't she, mate?"

"She can handle herself," Dingo produced a roll of nanokarats. By the look on the man's face, Angela could tell it must have been an impressive amount.

"Right-O," he motioned, "What's your fancy, love?"

Angela had never owned a gun, and had only fired personal weapons to prove to Dingo that if she could handle the ballistic and energy weapons on an ARHAN, these primitive things were no match for her. She understood the reason though, if they ran into the DEVA agents suddenly, she would need a firearm, at least. A miracle at most.

She looked over the case and examined what was inside. They were all shapes and sizes, some cylinder feed, some magazine feed. She tested one or two as Dingo stood by the door watching the street. The man behind the counter didn't miss the behavior and he watched Dingo more than Angela. She finally settled on one of the bigger revolvers with a long black scope, liking its weight and the lack of reliance on magazines to reload, even if it was a bit slower.

"This one," she turned to Dingo who looked over.

"Ah, fine yes, proper shooter that one is," the man turned his attention back to her.

"We'll take it," Dingo moved back to the counter, "with that holster right there, the belt and all the ammunition you have for it. Also, I'll take that rifle as well." He motioned to a rifle much like the one he already owned.

"Sure thing, mate. That'll be," he paused in mock consideration as he took the items off the wall and loaded them onto the counter, "four thousand nanokarats."

Dingo didn't even look at the man as he examined the rifle, "Two thousand."

"Taking the Mickey, are you?" he reached for the rifle which Dingo pulled away from him. "That doesn't even cover the bleedin guns, let alone the rest of it!"

Dingo thought for a moment, "I tell you what," he reached into his pocket again, "Three thousand, and you help me get this stuff to my buggy." He dropped the cash on the counter.

"Fine," the man didn't want to argue, it was more money than he had made all month. "Right then, let's go."

They said their goodbyes to the shopkeeper after he finished helping them load up. Dingo pulled off and headed back to the truck. Angela sat beside him wondering about Frontier Setter. How could he really still be here? If he wasn't, then who was using DEVA to rely signals and why? Who had DEVA sent to the surface to hunt her down. She pulled the pistol out of its holster and began to load it. Was this little gun going to be enough when six fully armed ARHANs showed up?


	5. First Contact

Angela and Dingo stood on a ridge overlooking a narrow valley. Across from them was the tall antenna array they had been looking for. Angela had her monocular, the only useful gadget from her DEVA gear that remained, while Dingo looked through a set of large binoculars. She scanned the ridge line looking for any activity, they had seen the evidence of an ARHAN passing overhead the night before headed this direction. Chances were the agents had also been told about the broadcast station and had sent the ARHAN ahead to prevent them from accessing it. However, if it were here, Angela couldn't see it. She scowled as she dropped her monocular.

"There," Dingo pointed, still looking across the ridge.

Angela looked again and at first didn't see anything. There was a faint glint of light high in one of the towers. She zoomed in on the source to see a woman with close cut blonde hair and a thin muscular body dressed in the white and black DEVA uniform. She had a monocular of her own she was using to scan the ridge Angela and Dingo were on. Angela dropped to the ground as Dingo pulled her down. She could still just see the woman over the crest of the ridge as she lay there flattened on the hard, dusty ground. She knew her.

"Third Officer Tiffany Hayden," Angela whispered.

"So you two know each other?" Dingo inquired in the same low whisper.

"Yeah, we trained together," Angela nodded. "She's an idiot. We were all surprised when she made Third Officer. But where is her ARHAN?"

"Just below the tower, curled up into the ball. I don't see any signs of backup."

"They most likely just wanted her scout it out and report back. I bet her partner isn't far off."

"And if the ground agent is still with her, he could be a couple days off still. No way he could have kept up with that tin can while in flight."

"Well," Angela threw her long blonde hair over her shoulder as she looked over to Dingo, "we have to get in there. What now."

"It's a pretty long shot, but I think I can make it," he peered out judging the distance, "but,"

"If you don't you'll give our position away," Angela finished for him. She folded her arms under her chin and rested her head. "I think I could get around her and come up from behind, but as long as she's in that tower…" Angela drifted off as she picked her head up to look back at Dingo.

"I'll watch you from here," he said, "and if anything goes wrong, I'll take the shot."

Angela nodded as she slid down the back of the ridge trying to stay out of Tiffany Hayden's line of sight. The coat she now wore would give her some sort of camouflage against the barren ground but her hair would certainly give her away. She pulled the coat off just to swing it back on trapping her knee-length hair underneath it. She pulled her cap down low to hide as much more of it as possible, its red color a better match for the environment then the top of her head, even if it was a brighter shade than the local reds.

It would take her at least half an hour to move around the outside of the valley. Going through it wasn't an option, even an incompetent idiot like Tiffany could spot some strutting across open ground. However, the cover on the outside wasn't much better, but Angel was able to keep the top of the tower just about the ridge in hopes that Tiffany would have to be at least that high to see her from her vantage point. The footing was difficult, her heeled boots having trouble finding proper footing on the broken ground and she slipped at least twice causing clouds of dust to fly up into the air and over the ridge. She cursed each time.

Half an hour turned into forty-five minutes, then an hour. She now wished she was still in communication with Dingo, but he didn't have anything wireless, and wouldn't have used it if he did. She finally could see the building at the base of the towers and took a moment to scan the towers. She couldn't see Tiffany perched in the structure and the ARHAN was now fully deployed. Standing it's massive 30 or so feet into the air. Tiffany stood at the foot of it with her hand in front of her talking into the holo-cast display, most likely giving a report.

She was taller than Angela, and a bit better built. The product of not rushing the maturation of her material body before she left DEVA. Angela hoped that her smaller size would have some kind of advantage as she moved slowly from outcrop to outcrop trying to get as close as possible. Just a little closer and she could get the drop on Tiffany. Then, Angela slipped again with an audible thud against the ground. She scrambled to get back behind one of the rocks, but it was too late.

Tiffany dropped her arm and called out, "Who's there?" She turned slowly looking around and saw the end of a coat and a booted foot disappear behind a rock. She recognized the boot, a DEVA uniform. She called her holo-cast back up and began to speak. But her voice was cut off by her scream. Something ripped through her hand then she heard a faint crack echoing off in the distance. She pulled her hand to her chest and fell to one knee before instinct and training kicked in and she ran for cover of her own.

Angela heard Tiffany scream followed by the crack. Dingo had been watching her and knew her cover was blown. She looked around to watch Tiffany dive behind a nearby rock, blood covered her hand and the chest of her uniform. Where ever he had hit her, it must not have been fatal, or even that damaging. But now Angela did have an advantage, pain. Tiffany had never felt pain before and Angela knew it wasn't a pleasant feeling for the first time. She didn't lose a beat, she rushed out from behind her rock pulling the revolver from its holster on her hip.

Tiffany looked back in time to see Angela coming toward her, pistol out. The rock beside her head exploded sending chips raining down as Angela fired. If Tiffany hadn't ducked back in when she did, the bullet would have taken her head off. She had to act fast, as long as Angela had that gun, she was in trouble. With disregard for her injured hand she vaulted to the top of the rock and leaped down on the rushing girl. Her weight easily more than Angela's tiny frame could support and the two tumbled across the ground.

Angela struggled to keep hold of the pistol as they finally came to a stop with Tiffany straddled her hips. Tiffany's good had grabbed Angela's wrist and slammed the gun against the ground until she finally broke Angela's grip and it tumbled away from them. She leaped forward to grab it but stopped short when the ground exploded in front of her followed by the distant crack. Dingo hadn't been aiming for the ground, but it was better than her getting her hands on Angela's gun.

Angela took the moment to push Tiffany off of her and popped to her feet. She dropped back a bit and readied herself. As Tiffany moved to recover, Angela charged forward to drop the heel of her boot into Tiffany's back. The blow caused her to crash flat on the ground with just enough sense to roll out of the way as another stomp was sent to follow up the first. She responded with a kick to Angela's knee which struck home, knocking Angela down. The young girl hit the ground hard and could feel her lip split from the impact.

Both woman recovered swiftly and began to circle each other. Tiffany's right hand was limp, but she still held the arm ready to fight. Angela wiped the blood from her lip with the back of her hand, smearing it across her pale check. "So," Angela's electric blue eyes narrowed, "I guess DEVA doesn't think that much of me sending an idiot like you after me."

Tiffany's own green eyes were focused intently on Angela, "I'm not the one that has her former sisters out for her," she feinted a bit, Angela didn't react, "who's the idiot now?"

Angela chuckled, "You know you don't stand a chance. You've never beaten me."

Tiffany feinted again, Angela could tell she was still uncomfortable in her material body. "There is a first time for everything!", she raged forward swinging her good hand and unsteady kicks.

Angela moved swiftly from side to side dodging what she could and blocking what she couldn't. Tiffany struck hard and was pushing Angela back. Angela chanced a look behind her between blows, she was nearing the edge of the ridge. She took a few more careful steps backwards as Tiffany continued the attack. With measured grace, Angela finally stepped to the side. She lifted a knee into Tiffany's midsection and landed a strong backhand blow to her head. Tiffany lurched forward and tumbled down the ridge. She came to a stop, at the bottom in a crumpled heap.

Angela followed her down as Dingo approached from the other direction. Tiffany wasn't dead, but she was unconscious and her face and shoulders cut and bruised from the fall. Inspecting the shot hand, Angela found that the bullet had severed her fifth finger, superficial but painful none the less.

"What do you want to do with her?" Dingo asked as he came to stand over Angela.

"Leave her," Angela stood, her voice cold, "let her know what it's like to be expelled from DEVA. Even if they let her back, it'll be to be archived, just like they did to me."

Angela turned and began to walk away. Dingo stood for a moment, he knew it really bothered her to be stuck down here, he didn't know it bothered her that much. With a sigh, he knelt down and wrapped up the woman's hand and cleaned the cuts on her face. He pulled his canteen from his belt and strapped it to hers. If Angela was going to leave her out here, he wanted to give her a fighting chance. She'd most likely run into something anyway, if it didn't find her here first.

Angela forced the door to the building below the towers open. It was dark inside with only the light spilling in from the door giving any chance to see into the room. Dingo came up behind her and produced a light which he handed to her. He flicked on one of his own as she examined hers. He smiled down at her before he turned it over in her hand and hit the switch. "You know," his usual casual smirk was back, "for someone that prides herself on knowledge of advanced technology, you can be really clueless sometimes."

Angela glared, "Shut up, idiot." She moved into the room casting the light around. It was a lobby of some sort, broken chairs and tables littered the room. A set of double doors where in the back of the room separated from the rest by a reception desk. Angela moved cautiously toward them as Dingo looked around. Finding a switch, he tried it, nothing happened. He hadn't expected it too.

"I'll go see if I can find power, there has to be a reason no one uses this place any more. Either the equipment is busted or there is no one around that knows how to power it." Angela just nodded slightly as she continued to the doors.

Dingo had a another objective, he had to disable the ARHAN. He looked the machine over as he walked up to it, it would get him some good nanokarats, at least both of Angela's had. But it would be better if it was gone before Tiffany came around. He turned back into the building to find Angela. She was in one of the back rooms looking over a large board of knobs, levers, and buttons, looking totally confused.

"Hey, Angela, can you pilot that tin can out back?" he asked, "I mean, does it have to be Tiffany or can you jump in it to move it?"

"Yeah, but DEVA will know if I don't do it offline, so it wouldn't be any good to us," Angela said, her voice bitter.

"I was thinking, if we are going to leave that girl alive, we can't let her stay here. Could you, say, grab her in it, get her out of here and bring it back? We can take out the antenna after that and just sell it for scrap like the others."

"I guess," still bitter, "I guess you're right." She resigned herself to his logic.

"I'll get to work here and see what I can figure out while you're gone."

Angela nodded and set out for the ARHAN. Its metal was warm in the sun, but comfortable, familiar. She toggled the cockpit open and watched as the seat slid out toward her. She ran her fingers across the smooth material, she never thought she would be in one of these again. Slowly, she straddled the seat and gripped the controls gently. It was like meeting an old friend you thought you would never see again. She allowed herself to be swallowed into the darkness of the cockpit before the lights started to come on and the displays came to life. So much information was missing since it wasn't connected to the servers, but she still enjoyed watching the world sweep below her as she stood the ARHAN it it's full height. She really missed this, and it sadden her to know they would have to destroy this one too. Finished with her nostalgia for the moment, she powered the robot forward toward where Tiffany lay. She scoped the unconscious woman up and took flight. About an hour out should be good enough. Maybe even close to Midus.

When Angela returned she found Dingo waiting for her outside the building. She could see lights on the towers flashing. He must have gotten it running. She jumped down from the ARHAN as he jogged up to her.

"Come here," he grabbed her hand and led her inside where she could hear…

"…in this file for more details. Repeat. Dingo, Angela Balzac, this is Frontier Setter. If you are receiving this recording than I have completed my self-assigned secondary objective. Please go to the location in this file for more details. Repeat." And the message lopped. It was really Frontier Setter. He had set himself a secondary objective? Angela looked at Dingo.

"What file?"

Dingo held up a small chip, "This one."


	6. Tempers

Jennifer O'Dey was livid, she was down an ARHAN and had an agent that obviously wasn't up for the challenge. Third Officer Shweta Nishma and Agent Turbo had found Tiffany as she stumbled into town. Between the heat and blood loss she was pale and weak, she could barely walk when they got to her. Central System Security had already informed Jennifer that the failure was hers and she would need to rectify it. In the meantime, Tiffany was to return to DEVA where she would receive a new material body and ARHAN to continue the mission. That had been hours ago, and Jennifer hadn't even gotten the chance to punish Tiffany before she was recalled. Now her team was a member down and would have to be deployed in two squads until Tiffany returned, not that she even wanted her back.

Jennifer's ARHAN moved swiftly a few meters above the ground with Third Officer Elizabeth Smith behind her and Agent Fox trailing them on the ground. She wanted to get to the antenna array and see what she could find out. Hopefully there would be clues about what the fugitives where doing there and where they had gone. She could guess they wanted to intercept the communication signal, and maybe she could too.

Elizabeth's face appeared in a small holo-display off to Jennifer's right, "Control reports no activity from the missing ARHAN."

"All the better," Jennifer grinned, "We should be able to handle them without issue. We won't make the same mistake that Tiffany and Shweta did."

Elizabeth nodded, "With a service record like Officer Nishma it surprises me that she failed so badly."

The image of Elizabeth vanished as a red beacon appeared in Jennifer's display indicating the location and distance of the array. Jennifer throttled her ARHAN faster to close the distance, finally bringing it to rest outside of the building. Her scanners began to chime instantly, something wasn't right. She switched through the various scanners before she found the one she was looking for and it became clear what the alert was for. The building was rigged with explosives; someone didn't want anybody else in there.

She jumped down from the cockpit and waited for Elizabeth to join her. When the other woman came next to her, Jennifer looked over to her. Elizabeth nodded in silent consent, her scanners had also detected the explosives. Agent Fox arrived a few minutes later and approached the two.

"The building is trapped," Jennifer said as she looked at the bald man.

"You don't say?" he scratched his scalp. "That'll be Dingo for you."

Jennifer smirked, "And to primitive to know that our ARHANS would detect such traps." She turned to look at the building again, "We need in that building Agent Fox. Can you accommodate us?"

Fox nodded as he returned to his vehicle and retrieved some of his gear. He cautiously neared the building inspecting the entrance. Just above the door he saw a small wire leading inside the building and attached to the outside of the door. He had always heard that Dingo was good, but this was amateur at best. He carefully freed the wire and continued to search the door closer. He smiled with confidence as he turned the handle and looked back to speak.

An explosion ripped through the relative silence. Fox was blown backwards as a large fireball blasted the doors off the hinges. Jennifer and Elizabeth felt the impact of the blast and were knocked back against Jennifer's ARHAN. The two women bounced off the machine and rolled across the ground. Jennifer looked up first, pushing herself up on her hands and knees. Elizabeth soon followed suit, but Fox hadn't been so lucky. With the full force of blast hitting him directly, he lay on the ground, motionless, a leg and both arms missing, his head twisted too far to the side.

Jennifer stood and inspected herself for more damage, other than some minor cuts and bruises she was in one piece. Her eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth. How did that idiot ever become an S Class Agent. Now he was dead, and good riddance, but the building was destroyed and whatever secrets it held were gone with it. She kicked the dead man's body in disgust.

"I can't believe this!" she kicked again. "This damn building has cost us two agents and an ARHAN! Who the hell is this guy!" Her face was red, both from the explosion and her rising temper. She turned back to Elizabeth and stormed up to her. "Get in there and see if anything is left we can use," She demanded.

Elizabeth shook her head, "I'm not going in there. The building is compromised and there could be more explosives."

Jennifer snatched Elizabeth by the back of the neck and thrust her toward the building, "I said, go!" she growled. "That is a direct order!" Elizabeth stumbled a bit to regain her footing as she silently cussed the aggressive treatment. "Control," Jennifer lifted her arm to call up her holo-display, "explosion at broadcast station. Agent Fox terminated."

"Roger," the woman's voice replied, "Central System has been notified."

"Status on additional agents?" she asked coldly.

"5 hours until maturation of Third Officer Tiffany Hayden complete, 1-hour travel to rendezvous. 6 hours' total time."

"Release Officer Hayden now, have her deploy on my location."

"Warning, maturation incomplete physical age 16 years. Unable to comply."

"Override," she growled at the screen. If it worked for Angela, it wouldn't be a large risk now.

"Negative, Central System Security will not comply with that order. The High Officials will not allow that mistake to be duplicated."

"Damn it," she spat. "Addition surface resources?"

"Request denied."

"Under whose authority?" her temper was rising again.

"The High Officials have denied additional resources due to in ability to properly manage those provided at the start of the mission."

Jennifer dropped her arm in disgust. This hadn't been her fault, sure she had selected Tiffany but she gave direct orders and they had not been followed and now she had to wait 6 hours for Tiffany's return. And if Fox had been a suitable field agent, he wouldn't be dead right now. No, not her fault, but she knew whose fault it was. Angela Balzac.


	7. Discovery

The night air was cool with a slight breeze that caused Angela's hair to blow gently. The clear sky gave her a view of the stars and the full moon that was simply breathtaking with their Milky Way back drop. She had seen stars go super nova millions of light years away off the shoulder of Orion, and thought she would never see something so beautiful, but this simple scene with the sound of Dingo quietly strumming his guitar and humming behind her was far more beautiful than anything DEVA could have ever shown her. As much as she pretended to hate this material body, and this dusty desolate planet, times like this made it all worthwhile. She wouldn't trade this for all the memory in DEVA. She looked over her shoulder at the tall, bearded man behind her. She wouldn't trade any of it. Angela stood up and walked over to Dingo to take a seat beside him with her legs hanging off the side of the truck. He didn't stop playing, but glanced over to her as she sat. Angela looked up to the sky again as a thin point of light streaked across the sky. Dingo stopped playing as he watched it as well. When it faded, she looked down to her knees.

"You know," Dingo placed the guitar on the roof next to him, "people use to say that if you see a shooting star and make a wish, it will come true."

Angela chuckled ever so slightly, "But now you don't know if it was a star or a DEVA agent coming to hunt you down."

"No, you can tell the difference," Dingo looked over at her. She looked sad and lost. "Do you have a wish Angela?"

She shook her head, "I only want to make it out of this alive. There is just so much down here, and it can be overwhelming."

"Hey, at least you got a good guide," he smiled at her as he gently patted her back.

Yes, she did have a good guide. Without Dingo she wouldn't have ever made it this far. He had saved her in Jed when she was attacked and nursed her back to health afterwards. After they had helped Frontier Setter escape, he hadn't even asked if she was leaving the launch site with him, he just assumed she was as they headed out of the broken city. Even just the other day when he helped stop Tiffany, even though he had vested interest in that, it was her he seemed most concerned about. Angela finally looked up at him to return his smile.

"There you go," he picked the guitar back up and began to strum it again.

"Dingo," she asked shyly.

"Yeah," he stopped again, resting his arms on the side of the instrument.

"Can you play that song you played for Frontier Setter?" her electric blue eyes shimmered in the moon light.

He didn't say a word, he just started to play and softly sign the lyrics. Angela liked this song, it had become her favorite of all the songs she had heard since leaving DEVA. She loved to hear Dingo sing it in his cool, clear voice. She turned to look back at the stars wondering how far away Frontier Setter had gotten in the past couple weeks. To Mars, the Kuiper Belt, maybe even Jupiter. She wondered what he would find as her eyes started to get heavy and Dingo continued to sing. Her eyes drifted shut as her head laid against the warm comfort next to her.

* * *

Angela hadn't remembered going to sleep last night, let alone getting into bed. She was a bit disoriented at first when she woke up wrapped in the covers of her bed with her pistol in its holster slung over the back of the nearby seat. She swung her legs off the side only to jerk them back as her bare feet hit the cold steel floor. She must have fallen asleep on the roof last night, and the thought made her blush suddenly feeling embarrassed, she wasn't quite sure why. She pushed the feeling to the back of her mind, since she couldn't push it completely out, as she pulled her boots on and buckled the holster to her hip.

Angela found Dingo sitting on the ground outside of the truck. He was engrossed in his laptop looking over the screen murmuring silently to himself. They had been searching and scanning the area for two days now with no results, but she was confident that if Frontier Setter said there was something here for them it had to be. She walked up on him slowly, trying to be as silent as she could be not to interrupt him. She failed, Dingo turned to her.

"Hello, sleepy head," he smirked at her.

"I'm," she hesitated, "I'm sorry about last night." She cast a look off in the distance.

"No problem," he looked back at his laptop, "you're pretty easy to carry," Dingo pointed at his screen. "Look here."

Angela looked over his shoulder, nothing on his screen made sense to her, how do these screens replace holo-display? "What am I looking at?" she put her hands on her hips.

"This is something underground," Dingo tapped his screen, "DEVA doesn't look underground because they don't think it's relevant."

"So, we might be looking in the right place but the wrong direction?" Angela looked over to Dingo.

"That's right," he nodded, "I think if we go back here," he tapped at the screen now, "we might find something."

Angela looked at the screen, nothing on it made sense to her. "I guess," she looked over to him, her eyes focused, "no," she shook her head, "I don't guess, I trust you Dingo." Angela blushed.

Dingo had been right, once they approached what looked like a piece of ordinary sand they had found what they were looking for. The sand had begun to fall away as they drew near revealing a ramp slowly descending into the earth. Dingo gave a slight nod and drove the buggy down the ramp. The entered what looked like an old parking area as the ramp behind them began to close. Dingo turned on the lights to spare them from complete darkness. He brought the buggy to a stop outside of a large door, not quite big enough for the car.

"Well," he looked to Angela, "I think we're here." She nodded and they both got out.

To their surprise, the door opened as they approached and lights turned on in the hallway. They walked forward carefully as the hallway before them continued to light up. As if the building knew where they wanted to go, at each intersection they were greeted by lights in one direction and not the others. The lights finally lead them to a huge room with high ceilings and walls to far away to measure. In the center stood a 30-foot-tall robot with spot lights cast on its white and blue panels.

"It's," Angela pointed with a shaking arm, "an ARHAN."

Dingo nodded and moved forward. In front of the robot was some sort of large panel that stretched possibly 30 feet as well. Dingo pushed a few of the lit buttons. A holo-display flickered to life and began to stream information that Dingo didn't understand.

"Angela," he looked back at her, "do you understand this stuff?"

Angela came forward to look it over. The panel was familiar; she had worked with one just like it many times in the virtual world. In fact, it was just like the ones she used to work with to protect DEVA. Her hands glided over it easily as she pressed buttons in rapid succession. The holo-display responded in kind, showing her the basic diagnostics she was asking of the system.

"This is just like the ones on DEVA," she commented.

"Is it connected to DEVA?" Dingo looked concerned.

"No," she shook her head, "It appears to be offline." She continued to rapidly push buttons. Finally, she stopped and pointed at two ever changing images on the display. "That," she said, "is Frontier Setter."

"So, he managed to copy himself here?", Dingo squinted at the image.

"No," she said, "it's like we thought, it just some kind of recording. Like we found at the station. This one appears to be instructions, like DEVA uses to train people in certain jobs."

"So," Dingo leaned back a bit and scratched his chin, "he wanted you to learn something?"

"I don't think so, these instructions appear to be locked by an access code belonging to someone named, Rebecca Wally." She pressed some more buttons calling the second image to the front. She looked it over for a moment before she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Dingo," she was clearly shaken, "this is a mental matrix. Her name," she looked at him, "is Rebecca Wally!"


	8. Tactical Support

Angela looked over the panel as Dingo looked on, she hovered her fingers over the buttons. "Do we wake her up?"

Dingo scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Well, Frontier Setter sent us here for a reason, and you say he left instructions for her."

Angela nodded as she began pressing buttons again. The image flared a bright blue as it spun rapidly. As it slowed, the image became that of the face of woman with long black hair and deep green eyes. Her thin lips spread into so a small smile as she looked around, finally resting on Angela.

"Hello," she spoke in a soft, melodic voice, "I am Rebecca Wally. You may call me Becky."

Angela looked back at Dingo briefly before she replied, "I am Angela Balzac," she motioned a hand at Dingo, "this Dingo."

Becky nodded, "Yes, I have been waiting for you. I have been informed that you were once of the space platform DEVA."

Angela nodded, "That is correct."

"A friend of yours, Frontier Setter he calls himself, has left me details about the two of you and how you assisted him with the Genesis Ark projects conclusion."

"Are you familiar with the project, then?"

"Yes," Becky nodded, "that project and Project Sojourn where being pursued at the same time."

"Project Sojourn?" Angela asked.

"Project Sojourn is the predecessor to DEVA. This is Project Sojourn. I have been archived and offline for the past 125 years. Frontier Setter found this complex before he left and brought it online."

"And these," Angela motioned to the set of instructions.

"He has left me the information required to operate, service, and repair this ARHAN, codename Artemis," an image of the white and blue ARHAN flickered to the screen.

"Well, well," Dingo moved beside Angela with his hands in his pockets, "looks like we got something to fight back with. But can DEVA get a hold of it."

"I do not believe so," Becky shook her head, "Frontier Setter has encrypted this terminal and the Artemis. I do not believe DEVA will be able to crack it."

"Well, that's good news," Dingo turned his head to Angela, "he was able to break into DEVA, and elude even their best System Security Officer," he patted Angela on the head.

"And he was able to crack the ARHAN I stole in about 10 seconds and DEVA said it couldn't be done," Angela acknowledged.

Angela walked past the terminal approaching the Artemis. It wasn't currently armed, and wasn't quite as rounded as the ones she was used to. While it was mostly white like the others, it had blue panels covering the joints in the superstructure. She reached where the panels should be and pressed against the cool, smooth metal. The external controls popped out and she keyed the cockpit open and the seat descended to her. It looked like the ones she was familiar with, two control sticks in the front and two pedals in the back. She dropped her coat on the ground and swung her leg over the seats and laid down on it. She rested her feet on the petals and grabbed the controls. Dingo watched as she ascended into the cockpit with a small smile.

Becky's face appeared in the holo-display, "All systems are on-line and functioning as required."

"Can you provide fire assistance as well," Angela moved her head, expecting the targeting reticle to follow her. She frowned when it didn't until she realized why, "I don't have a headset. It's in the truck."

"Your DEVA headset might not be compatible with this system, Angela," Becky stated. "But no worries, there is one here." With a blast of dusty air, a small rectangular compartment rose up at the foot of the ARHAN. "I believe I have selected on that will fit you properly."

Angela dropped down from the machine and looked the uniform over. Much like the Artemis it was almost identical to the ones used by DEVA. Angela pulled her t-shirt and shorts off only the hear Dingo cough suddenly. When she turned to look back at him, he swiftly turned his back to her. "What?" she asked.

"Remember those clothes I said were important?" he chuckled nervously.

"Yeah," she shrugged as she began to pull the uniform on. It fit her well, and she was thankful to be back in one, the surface close where too tight in some places and too lose in others. "It's not like I could use them with this anyway." She noticed the back of Dingo's neck was flushed, she smiled slightly. Then she blushed when she wondered if she had done that on purpose. Modesty wasn't a top priority in DEVA, but everyone seemed hung up on it down here on the surface. "You can turn back around now," she said as she fixed her long golden hair into two ponytails held with the same cyan stars her old uniform used. She bowed her head forward and slid the headset on. She looked back up at Dingo, her eyes shining.

"Definitely you," Dingo smiled.

Angela bounded back up into the cockpit like a child running for a playground. She listened to it close behind her as she slid into place. This time as she looked around the system followed her motions. Unlike the one she had used to transport Tiffany, this ARHAN was super responsive to her actions. "Can I take it out?" Angela asked, the excitement clear in her voice.

"Becky," Dingo looked back at the console, "will DEVA be able to detect it."

Becky appeared as s full body holo in front of Dingo, she was about his height, dressed in a long blue dress with her waist length black hair pulled into a single ponytail behind her. "Yes," she nodded, "but a brief operation should appear as a blip on their systems and may go unnoticed."

"Alright, Angela," Dingo nodded, "just don't get carried away."

Angela looked up as the hanger opened above her, sand cascaded down into the hanger and clicked up in a swirl of grit and dust as the engines on the back of the Artemis roared to life. Dingo held his hat on and shielded his face as the machine streaked into the air. Angela throttled it as fast as it would go and she couldn't believe it. It was faster than any of the other ARHANs she had ever piloted. She spun it into the atmosphere and allowed it to free fall back down before sweeping it across the ground kicking up a stream of dust behind her.

When she landed back in the hanger and jumped down. "That was amazing," her voice an octave higher than usual. Dingo looked up at here where he was seated with his guitar. "Becky?", Angela called out. Becky flashed into existence before her. "What kind of armaments do we have?"

Becky motioned to the console and Angela walked over to it. "Everything we have can be found here. Ammunition for ballistic and explosive weapons is limited, but I have the instructions and facilities to manufacture more. We just need a source for material such as propellant and lead."

"Lazlo," Dingo smirked. "I be he'd like to get back into business now that robots aren't buying up his nitrate."

Angela shook her head, "We might not need re-supply. Maybe if we can take these agents out we can convince DEVA to leave us the hell alone." She continued to examine the holo-display.

"We'll have to see I guess," Dingo said as came to stand beside her. "Come on, let's find out if this place has anything to eat," he patted her shoulder as he turned around to walk out the hanger. "Hey, Becky," he looked over his shoulder to the holo, "anything good to eat here."

"There is a cafeteria but the food is not stocked, you will only find nutrition pouches."

Dingo grimaced, "I guess that will have to do."

Over the couple weeks Angela worked with Becky as the two learned to work together to become a solid unit with the new ARHAN. Angela had learned from Becky that the Artemis was a prototype which contained systems and functions that were not added to the production units due to cost, availability or reliability. Together, they had gotten good at anticipating each other's actions and coming to the same conclusion. With Becky's support, Angela could make the machine do things she never thought where possible. They had even taken it hunting after Dingo's complaints about the nutrition pouches has become excessive.

She had returned from one such hunting trip to find Dingo coming to the hanger as she was leaving it. He waved to her with his cocky smile and she waved back with a slight shake of her head. She stopped in front of him, "We got a good catch, should be good for a week or so," she twitched her head back toward the hanger.

"Good job," he patted her shoulder, "I'll get it down to the cafeteria." He went to move past her but she placed a hand on wrist.

"Dingo, wait," she looked up at him. "I've," she hesitated, "I've never properly thanked you for all your help."

"Don't mention it, Angela," he smiled, "we're partners after all."

"Yeah," she nodded and looked down. "I know, but I owe you so much. Without you," she paused again. She could feel the warmth in her cheeks. "I guess what I'm trying to say," the words continued hang in her throat. "Dingo, I," her words were cut off by a loud claxon and flashing red lights. Angela jumped back away from him as Becky's voice rang through the hallways.

"Dingo! Angela!" she was calm but loud. "I have detected six incoming bogies. S Class ARHAN exoskeletal powered suits. ETA 20 minutes."

"Damnit," Dingo cursed, "they found us."

Angela broke out into a run back to the hanger thankful that she had taken to wearing the uniform full time again. "Becky," she called as she ran, "prepare to deploy armaments."

"I'm sorry Angela, the deployment bays have not been loaded. It will take 35 minutes to arm the weapons and deploy."

"Okay," she jumped onto the seat and glided up into the cockpit. "I'll have to use Artemis' on board weapons for the time being. Let me know when they are ready to go." Angela throttled the ARHAN up and out of the open hanger. Her display showed her the incoming units. She would have to wait until they were closer to engage, right now she still had the element of surprise if DEVA hadn't detected the Artemis in their short outings.


	9. Fight or Flight

Shortly after the explosion at the broadcast station, Jennifer had received the information from headquarters that she had been hoping for. They had finally decoded the message and identified an information packet attached to it. It took two more weeks for them to actually un-encrypt the packet to finally reveal the location of some sort of underground complex far to the west. Now, she and her team of officers spend toward the location with their ARHANs armed with the latest weapons available from DEVA.

She had been in quite the temper to entire time waiting for the location which she took out on the other women, especially Tiffany. Now she was finally going to be able to put Angela Balzac in her place, and get revenge for the humiliation she had put her through. She was going to completely destroy the girl. She grinned coldly as she imagined choking the life out of Angela with her bare hands. Yes, this was going to a sweat victory and she would finally be able to get off this ball of rock and back to DEVA where she belonged, with honors.

"20 minutes to target location," Jennifer growled as the other five women appeared in her holo-display, "spread out, 50 meters apart. Nothing gets out. If it moves, blast it. I don't care if it's a rodent or the man, but not Angela."

"Not, Angela?" Tiffany asked.

"No," Jennifer spat, "she's mine." Jennifer could tell the others were casting looks at the faces on their own holo-display. "Is there a problem?", she snapped.

Third Officer Chun Su spoke up, "Don't lose sight of the mission, Jennifer."

"You just make sure she doesn't escape," Jennifer glared at the display, "again."

The six machines streaked across the sandy ground leaving a cloud of dust and dirt in their wake. Jennifer looked through her various displays scanning the area for signs of the complex. Finally, her screen indicated they were almost right on top of it. That's when Jennifer was something that rendered her speechless. Finally, she gasped, "What?", she shook her head, "How can that be?" She watched as a strange ARHAN burst out of the sand firing both weapons. One beam ripped through the cockpit of Chun's ARHAN, followed by the machine erupting into a ball of fire. "Squad, scatter!", she commanded as the five remaining ARHANs split in different directions.

* * *

Angela had dropped just below the surface inside the hanger as she waited for the approaching battle. Her scanners couldn't penetrate the hanger walls, but Becky was able to use external scanners to keep tabs on them. They were spread out across the desert in a line 250 meters long and approached at top speed. She looked down where Dingo stood, his rifle over his shoulders waiting for her command to head out. She wanted to be fully engaged before he left the hanger so he could go unnoticed.

"Get ready, Dingo," she spoke as she held her arm out and chopped her hand down, the Artemis mimicked her gesture, as did Dingo before he jogged out the hanger. She looked at the sensor readings again. She had 30 seconds now. "Becky," the woman's face appeared on the holo, "time to go. Get me two targets as soon as we break the surface." Becky nodded as her image disappeared.

Angela burst out of the hanger, her display already marking the six machines that were only a few meters away now. As soon as the targeting computer engaged the two closest machine she opened fire. One ARHAN jerked out of the path of the onslaught with only one beam striking it superficially on the shoulder. The other ARHAN hadn't reacted as quickly as the beams cut into its armor with one burrowing through the cockpit. Angela jumped the throttle and streaked past as the machine exploded. She spun the Artemis around as she passed the second machine she had attacked releasing another volley at it. This time the machines left arm was struck with the full force of the attack, severing it from the body of the ARHAN.

"In position, Angela," Dingo's voice came to her ear. He was prone on the ground with his rifle aimed toward one of the enemy ARHANs. "Try to get third from the left to turn her back to me."

"Will do," Angela nodded. She maneuvered through the battle as the other ARHANs were returning fire. One managed to strike her on the right side sending a jolt through the cockpit.

"Angela," Becky appeared, "you have one to your rear, closing fast. Incoming."

Angela jerked the Artemis to the side as rockets shot past her and exploded on the ground throwing chunks of earth in the air. She turned half way and fired at her attacker, more for effect than to actually hit. The targeting on the Artemis brought the shots close enough to cause the other pilot to change direction. Angela swerved again focusing her attention on Dingo's target. She fired to ensure she had the woman's attention.

"Just a little more," Dingo mumbled in her ear, speaking more to himself. "Perfect," he pulled the trigger as fast as he could keep the rifle on target sending rounds into the back of the machine. It sparked a bit before the antenna exploded.

"Angela," Becky appeared again, "I have been able to engage their communications. Would you like me to patch you in?"

"Yes. Dingo," she swept up into the air dodging another volley of rockets, "did you get that."

"Sure did," he was already on the move to a new position.

"How is that thing moving like that," Jennifer's voice was now in Angela's ear.

"My targeting is down," it was Tiffany, "the other target must be out here."

"I see him," Elizabeth noted as Angela watched an ARHAN turn toward where Dingo was headed.

"I'm coming Dingo," Angela informed him, "stay mobile. Don't give her a shot."

"Hadn't planned on it," he zig-zagged the buggy across the open ground, wishing for some sort of cover.

Elizabeth's focus on Dingo caused her not to notice Angela's approach until it was too late. The Artemis crashed into the back of her ARHAN causing it to spin out of control before it crashed hard to the ground. Angela pounced at once, thrusted the Artemis' guns under both arms and opened fire. The blast ripped through the servos sending hot metal and fluids spraying the ground.

"Angela," Becky called, "watch out!"

Angela's focus had cost her as well, Tiffany's damaged ARHAN now crashed into her. She fought the controls trying to steady the Artemis, but didn't manage to straighten it out before crashing to the ground. Tiffany's voice came through, "She's down, moving in to terminate."

"No!" Jennifer commanded. "I told you, she's mine!"

The disagreement gave Angela a brief moment to recover as she righted the Artemis. The ARHAN she had tackled was still functional but no longer a threat so she moved her attention to Tiffany. "Time to deployment," she asked Becky as she throttled forward.

"12 minutes," Becky replied.

"This thing will be over in 5," Angela sighed to herself. She let a blast lose as Tiffany made evasive maneuvers which the Artemis easily matched. Angela continued to fire as the two machines looped and swirled through the air.

"I can't shake her!" Tiffany sounded panicked.

"Get her into position then," Jennifer demanded, "I closing." Angela checked Jennifer's position, she was still 100 meters off. Her display warned her of a radar lock.

"Guided lock, smart fire engaged," Nishma finally spoke as she fired a salvo for guided missiles.

"Impact in 10 seconds," Becky warned her. Angela took some more shots at Tiffany before breaking off to avoid the incoming missiles. "Impact in 5, 4, 3, 2," the Artemis shook as two of the five struck it, causing it to be knocked out of the sky and crash to the ground again. The displays indicated that the left arm of the machine was severely damaged. It was still attached but unresponsive. She had lost half her attack power in that blow, and if this didn't end soon, she wasn't sure if she was going to make it out.

"Angela," Dingo called out, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," she gritted her teeth, the crash had banged her around the cockpit a bit. "We need to end this now, Dingo."

"All units," this time it was Olga, "coordinated attack, focus fire!"

"No!" Jennifer screamed again.

"Now!" Olga commanded. She and Nishma locked on and opened fire as Jennifer's ARHAN closed. Angela fired the thrusters of the Artemis sending it sliding across the ground as the incoming round struck the ground where she had been laying.

Angela brought the Artemis up and throttled back into battle. Using her one good weapon she opened fire on Tiffany again. The woman didn't move fast enough to avoid the incoming fire as it tore through her ARHAN. Warning messages flashed across Tiffany's display. The drive had been hit and was starting to overheat, she had to get out or be cooked in the shell of the ARHAN. She engaged the recall trying to escape back to DEVA. To her horror it didn't work, the antenna was more than just targeting. Shut down was her only option.

Angela had now eliminated three of the six, but was running low on power. Her display indicated that her remaining weapon only had a couple hundred shot left before its cells were completely depleted. She was almost out of time. "How much longer, Becky," she asked hurriedly, already knowing she wasn't going to like the answer.

"9 minutes," Becky's voice had a calming effect on Angela.

"Weapons engaged," Jennifer chimed in as she opened fire on the Artemis. The rounds tore through the armor shaking the Artemis violently. Angela braced herself as she struggled to continue to move forward. She would have to make these last shots count.

"Angela," Dingo sounded off, "I got her in my sights, hold steady." He fired the rest of the rounds in the magazine, again striking the antenna of the ARHAN causing a small explosion on the machines back.

"Jennifer," Olga came through, "HQ is calling for a withdrawal. We've sustained to much damage."

"No," Jennifer exclaimed, "I got her. She's mine."

"Third Office Jennifer O'Dey," Nishma could be heard now, "Central System Security has ordered you to withdraw. Failure to comply will considered insubordination and direct dereliction of duty. A recall will be issued and you will stand trial for these charges. Do you comply?"

Jennifer cursed to herself. "I'll comply," she growled as she throttled the ARHAN away being followed by the two undamaged machines and the armless one.

Angela watched them go as she brought the Artemis to a rest next to Tiffany's downed ARHAN. Dingo pulled up alongside and hopped out to join her. She looked over at him as he smiled at her and gave her a thumbs up. She nodded solemnly at him as she turned to broken machine. "Any signs of life, Becky," she brought her hand up and opened the holo display.

"Yes, the pilot appears to be uninjured," she nodded.

It took Dingo and Angela a few moments to pry open the unpowered unit to pull Tiffany out. The woman looked crest fallen and beaten. Angela was sure why, this second failure would not be taken lightly. She would most like be removed from System Security, if not archived out right. "So," Angela gave her a grim smirk, "looks like you still haven't beaten me." Tiffany's head dropped as she fell to a seated position. "Come on, let's get you out of the sun." Angela offered her a hand which Tiffany reluctantly accepted. She helped her up and motioned toward Dingo's buggy. "Climb in, Dingo will take you back." Tiffany complied as Angela climbed back into the Artemis.


	10. Axis and Allies

Third Officer Jennifer O'Dey strode through the virtual hallways of Central System Security on DEVA. Even in the false reality of this world, she gave off an air of discontent as she stormed past the people that moved out of her way with haste. What she had thought would have been a crack team turned out to be a collection of incompetence. The High Officials had already informed her that she was to complete the mission with the agents she had already selected, deaf to her pleas for replacements. At least she was spared Tiffany, when the recall was issued she had been unable to comply and was now considered missing in action. Even though they had given her instruction to retrieve the woman and bring her back to DEVA when the team returned to the surface, Jennifer had no intention to do so. She would leave that failure on the dusty rock, or even destroy the material body after she had finally dealt with Angela Balzac.

As she continued down the hall she was joined by Third Officer Elizabeth Smith who emerged from a connecting corridor and fell into step beside her. The two woman walked in silence as the approached the end of the hallway where two plain blue double doors stood waiting. Jennifer pushed one open as Elizabeth pushed the other as they passed through doorway into the courtyard of green grass and cherry trees. Broad steps lead the two down onto a smooth wide path that stretched into the distance before it split at a three-way junction. Low stone benches lined the path, occupied by other System Security agents going about their daily business. Jennifer moved past them without a second look, most were not even security officers so hardly worth her notice.

At the intersection the they turned left, Elizabeth finally spoke. "So," she ventured, "what did the High Officials say?"

"We are to continue our mission as soon as the new ARHANs are completed. They said it would be about a month," Jennifer answered, her voice sharp and angry.

"Are they replacing Third Officer Hayden," Elizabeth already felt she knew they answer but wanted confirmation.

"No," Jennifer shook her head slightly, "Third Officer Hayden is listed as MIA and is still considered part of the squad. We are to recover her on our return."

"So, what are these new ARHANs?" Elizabeth looked over at her commander as they turned down a short branch that lead to another plain blue door.

Jennifer moved through the door and down a hallway lined with similar doors before she answered, "New prototypes designed based on the information from the ARHAN Angela was piloting."

Jennifer led Elizabeth into a small white room were the other three women sat. They were all dressed in the same gray and blue dress uniforms, seated at desked that faced a raised area next to the door. Jennifer could tell her entrance had caused conversation to stop as all eyes fell on her and Elizabeth. The second woman took a seat with the others as Jennifer moved to the raised dais in the front of the room. She motioned toward the wall which caused the holo-display to come to life with images of Angela Balzac, the ARHAN she had been piloting, Tiffany Hayden, and another ARHAN that they had never seen before. The new ARHANs were a sleek black with orange paneling protecting their superstructure. A thin red 'V' adorned the head where the senor arrays where stored. Technical read-outs began to scroll along the side of the image as it spun slowly in place and Jennifer swiped a hand to call it forward, pushing the other three to the background.

"This is code name, Hera. The techs at System Ops have been over the data collected from the battle with the ARHAN we found on the surface," Jennifer motioned again, pulling the picture of the Artemis to equal precedence. "According to what they could find out, this ARHAN was developed in the beginning of the DEVA initiative. An old prototype that hadn't been considered for mass production."

"For an old prototype," Third Officer Chun Su interrupted, "it sure seems pretty capable." She gave a slight sneer as she remembered be ripped out of her material body back to DEVA moments before Angela's attack had struck and destroyed the ARHAN she had been piloting.

"Yes," Jennifer cut her a glare, angry with the interruption, "it did appear so. Now," she continued, "from what they could gather from remaining archives, this ARHAN had a high production cost and unreliable components, so it was developed into the ARHANs we know today. Also, System Ops has determined that with the amount of damage we managed to inflict on it, there is no way they could possibly repair it with the materials and tools available on the surface." She pushed the picture are the Artemis back. "The Heras," she motioned to the black ARHAN, "have been upgraded in speed, trust capabilities and armor, especially around the pilot compartment," She glared at Chun again as the cockpit of the ARHAN flashed briefly, "and the satellite antenna array," this caused the back of the ARHAN to flash briefly. "Now," the image of the Tiffany pushed its way to the forefront, "we have orders to recover Third Officer Tiffany Hayden, who has been listed as MIA. I have decided that this is off the lowest priority in this mission."

"She would," Third Officer Shweta Nishma said under her breathe but wasn't quite low enough.

"Problem Third Office Nishma?", Jennifer shot at her.

"Yeah," Shweta stood swiftly, "Tiffany is one of us, if she's out there we should bring her home." Chun and Olga nodded in consent.

"And we will if we can," Jennifer's eyes narrowed. "We just have more pressing matters."

"Like who was giving Balzac operational support," Elizabeth cut in to ease the tension. "There is now way she could have piloted that ARHAN like that without help."

"Central System Security believes that they were correct that Frontier Setter has remained," Jennifer motioned back at the holo as Angela image moved to the front. "We are to find AIs central processor and destroy it. We have reason to believe that it is in the complex we identified. It is to be completely destroyed and confirmed before we are recalled."

* * *

Angela jumped down out of the Artemis and finally took a visual inspection of the outside. Scratched and riddled with holes, the Artemis certainly looked worse for ware, but had kept fighting as hard she could push it. She crouched next to one of the machines feet and ran her slender finger through the red liquid and rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger. Though she knew it was just hydraulic fluids, she couldn't help but feel it was if the Artemis was bleeding. She smirked at herself, she had caught herself thinking of a machine as something more, maybe even a being. Even though she knew that without her or Becky, this machine would not move, would not fight. It just was, and that was it. The click of boots on the hard floor caused her to stand and turn to the entrance of the hanger. She saw Dingo leading Tiffany into the hanger.

"Well," Dingo pushed his hat back on his head a bit, "looks like we managed to pull that one off." He stood behind the panel looking over the holo display. Becky had taken the time to assist him with reading what he was saying.

Angela moved beside him, "Yeah, thanks to you and Becky." She nudged him in the elbow with her shoulder with a slight sway of her body.

"Well," he muffed her hair, "I'm pretty sure we had a really good pilot." Angela blushed at his smirk.

Angela turned to Tiffany to get her attention elsewhere and noticed Tiffany was staring at the Artemis, her mouth slightly agape. She moved over the Tiffany and pulled her arms across her chest before speaking, "So," she caused Tiffany to jump a bit, "taking it all in. Seeing what you can for DEVA?"

Tiffany's green eyes fixed on Angela, "I just," she stammered, "how did that thing keep fighting after all that damage."

"Artemis isn't your normal ARHAN," Angela looked back at the machine. "But we won't get into that right now. Come on," she motioned out of the room, "let's talk somewhere else."

Dingo and Tiffany fell in behind Angela as she swiftly walked out of the room. It only took Dingo a few long, swift strides to come even with Angela. She looked over at him with an accusatory glance. She hoped her unspoken words got through to him. He had brought a potential enemy into the heart of Becky's operation. When he didn't seem to give a sense of comprehension, Angela sneered slightly as she picked up the pace and hurried to the cafeteria. The room lit as they walked in, the room was much too big for the small number of occupants in the complex so Angela and Dingo typically took their meals in the kitchen.

The kitchen was smaller, but still bigger than required by them so Dingo had rearranged the room slightly to bring things in a little closer. Angela opened the refrigerator and produced two small plates and offered one to Dingo. She placed the other on the table as she moved to the cabinet and pulled out a nutrition pack. She handed it to Tiffany as she sat at the table to start eating. The silence was broken by Becky's voice filling the room.

"Angela," Becky intoned, "I have reviewed the damage to the Artemis."

"I'll be right there," Angela said as she dropped the fork on the table. "You stay here and keep an eye on her," she looked at Dingo as tilted her head to Tiffany. Dingo just responded with a small nod. Angela stood from the table and crossed back out of the kitchen, through the cafeteria, and back down to the hanger. Becky greeted her with a wave and a smile was Angela entered. "So," Angela nodded at her, "what's the verdict?"

"The Artemis has sustained only minor damage in relation to its overall condition." Becky called up a holo-display to show the areas of damage.

"Can Artemis be fixed?" Angela sounded concerned.

"Yes, we have the required material on hand to fix the damage, but I will have to take the Artemis off-line for three to four weeks."

"That's a long time, what if DEVA returns before then?", Angela looked over the display.

"I'm sorry Angela, that is the fastest the facility will be able to work. Furthermore, I will be able to repair the damage ARHAN that you recovered Tiffany from."

Angela looked at her incredulously, "What good will that do us?"

"Two ARHANs are better than one Angela," Becky noted. "I can also have this one on-line within a week."

"You could, could you?" Angela looked more interested now. "Is there a chance it can be brought up to spec with Artemis?"

"It's possible, but it will take time," Becky shifted the images on the display. "The retrofit would take an additional two weeks."

"Would it slow down the repairs to Artemis?" Angela flicked through some more information.

"No, we should be able to maintain both within this timeline."

For the second time that day, the sound of boots brought her attention to the door. The holo-display flickered off and Becky vanished as Angela turned around. Tiffany stood at the entrance with her head slightly leaned forward, her arms in front of her, her right hand gripped her left wrist. Angela watched her for a moment before she spoke. "How's it going?" Angle asked her.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I, Angela?", she sounded a bit scared.

"Well," Angela signed, "chances are DEVA is not going to let you come back, at least not as a System Security Officer."

"No," Tiffany shook her head slowly, "the High Officials have already told me that if we didn't get you back, we were all going to be put on trial."

"And let me guess," Angela's voice shifted to a gentler tone, "conviction could include indefinite archival?" Tiffany nodded. Angela knew the feeling that Tiffany's face expressed, she had been given a job, one that seemed easy enough at first, but the mission parameters had changed, and the High Officials wouldn't take that into consideration. Angela couldn't help but think of her own self as she sat in the archival prison scared and alone. Before Frontier Setter had rescued her, she was afraid she would never see him or Dingo again.

"I agreed," Tiffany still didn't look up, "because I thought that if I could take you on and win, I would finally be everything I always wanted to be." She moved to a nearby chair and took a seat. "I always watched your mission reports, Angela," Tiffany looked up at the young girl, "and I wanted to prove that I could do it too."

"Yeah," Angela nodded with a small smile, "that's the mindset of DEVA for you. Excel or be truncated. The highest performers get all the memory, and everyone else gets left behind."

"But what am I going to do, Angela?" she looked down at her material body. "I feel like I'm in some kind of prison already. This body is so heavy, and this world, this reality is so dirty and…", she trailed off.

"Trust me," Angela sat next to her, "I know the feeling. If it wasn't for," Angela blushed. "It takes some getting used to, but it's not that bad once you do," she explained as she quickly changed directions.

"But what do I do now?" Tiffany's eyes looked as if they were about to tear.

"Well," Angela stood up with a sigh, "it so happens I'll be in control of two ARHANs with only one pilot. DEVA is going to come back and try again. And I don't think they are going to be pushed over this easily next time."

"Learn and adapt," Tiffany nodded

Angela nodded in agreement, "You can take your chances with DEVA, or you can stay here. If you stay here, you can set out on your own, or," Angela paused as she hoped she wasn't making a bad decision, "or you can stay here and help me fight off DEVA. You know as much as I do, and they are going to consider you a security risk. I'm willing to bet it's archival imprisonment if you do return."

"So," Tiffany looked at the damaged ARHAN in the hanger, "you want me to fight with you?"

Angela nodded, "Yes, I do. But you have to understand Tiffany. This isn't like fighting for DEVA. There is no recall. If your ARHAN goes up in a ball of fire, there is not getting out. There is not a nice virtual world waiting, no new body. This is it."

Tiffany narrowed her green eyes as she ran her fingers through her short, blonde hair. "But," she looked back at Angela, "what about an operator?"

"I think it's time that you meet Becky," Angela turned back to the console as it came to life and Becky appeared before it.


	11. Angle of Attack

Elizabeth and her team stood at the feet of the five black and orange ARHANs waiting for Indigo and Turbo. Elizabeth began to pace impatiently with her arms crossed, murmuring curses under her breath. The two surface agents were already a half hour late with no sign of them. She stopped pacing to check her holo-display again, for the third time. DEVA had been unable to locate them on the two previous checks, but now they showed up. Still over 100 km away, she cursed again as she dropped her arm. She wasn't sure why she was told to bring this filth with her again. She knew where Angela was now, she didn't need their assistance.

Elizabeth turned to the others, her expression unpleasant, "They are still about an hour away. Mount up, we'll meet them." She stormed off to her ARHAN and jumped onto the seat and drew it up into the cockpit. The holo showed her the location of surface agents, the hour it would have taken them to get rendezvous would be shortened to twenty minutes with the ARHANs at full speed. "Let's go," she said as she engaged the thrusters and the five Hera's took flight. For all of her displeasure with the surface, these new ARHANs almost made it worth it. They were faster and more agile than anything she had ever piloted in any of the simulations on DEVA. The five of them bobbed and streaked around each other getting the feel for the new machines causing the twenty-minute trip seem to pass in mere moments.

The five put down in front of the two approaching vehicles bring them to a sudden halt. Both drivers looked at each other with a clear distaste for the new arrivals before exiting the vehicles. Jennifer jumped down from her Hera and closed on the two men. She wore an expression of displeasure as she stopped in front of them with her arms crossed and hips cocked to one side, her dusky hair swayed gently in the wind. It was a long moment of silence before she finally spoke.

"You're late," her tone accusing and unpleasant.

"Well," Indigo looked at the device on his wrist, "that depends on how you look at it."

"I look at it as you have a job to do," Jennifer trust a finger at him, poking the burly man in the chest, "and if you want to get paid…"

"You know," Indigo moved to smack her had away, "for such a pretty girl, you have an ugly attitude. Turbo and I had some business to take care of. Thing to help finish this mission of yours without getting any more of my buddies killed." His voice a growl by the time he finished.

"Fox screwed up," Jennifer insisted. "Now, what kind of business did you have to take care of?"

"We got some information about Dingo," Indigo looked pleased with himself. "Turns out he's been meeting up with a fellow in Jed, goes by the name of Lazlo. Turns out Lazlo's family is in the fertilizer business."

"Fertilizer," Jennifer looked a bit confused, "what do they need fertilizer for?"

"This isn't your normal, run of the mill pile of crap sister," Indigo shook his head, "this is the kind that can go boom. Most likely they are planning to use it to make powder to resupply their ballistic weapons."

Jennifer brought her hand up to chin in thought, "So, they are planning to keep fighting. No surprise there. Any idea where we can find this Lazlo?"

"I can do you one better," Indigo leered, "we found out when and where Dingo is meeting Lazlo. A chance to eliminate part of your little problem. When he gets there, one shot, one less Dingo."

"No," Jennifer shook her head, "we capture him. We will see what information we can get out of him before we kill him." She grinned at the thought of torture to get everything she wanted out of Dingo.

* * *

Jennifer watched through her monocular as a large truck came rolling down an abandoned street in the ruined city. From the cross street came another vehicle, a smaller buggy driven by none other than Dingo. She scanned the area with her holo-display, her team and the two surface agents were in position and standing ready. Her team would capture Dingo while the two men would take care of the man Lazlo and make sure escape wasn't an option. The two vehicles stopped in the intersection of the two streets with both men getting out to greet each other with a handshake.

"Now," Jennifer spoke venomously.

Elizabeth, Chun, Shweta, and Olga rushed out of their hiding places and rushed the two men. Dingo fell back reaching for his pistol as the four DEVA women rushed him. Just as it cleared the holster, Olga swept in with a powerful kick to his wrist that sent the firearm spinning through the air to land a few feet away. Dingo began a counterattack as Olga tumbled away from him. Shweta's advance behind him caught his attention as he spun just in time to see her fist close in and strike him in chin with a solid thud. He recovered quickly as he moved in on the thin woman landing a few good blows of his own. Shweta captured his next strike and wrenched his arm, forcing him to his knee as his shoulder popped out of place. He managed to pull himself free and stand as he grimaced against the pain. Another kick landed in his back as Chun connected, her momentum carrying her past him. He didn't have time to recover before Elizabeth was on him, sending blow after blow to his injured shoulder. Olga grabbed him by his other arm and yanked on it as she placed a kick to the side of his knee. There was a resounding snap as he collapsed to his side. Another kick, this time cracking a rib or two, came from Shweta sending Dingo rolling across the ground. Olga kicked again, knocking his head backward and into the pavement. Dingo didn't move now as they continued the assault a few moments longer.

Jennifer joined the team as they dragged Dingo over to her. Indigo and Turbo held Lazlo with his hands behind his back, he hadn't put up any fight but struggled a bit. Jennifer crouched down to Dingo and picked his head up by his hair. He was already bruising, nose and lips bleeding. She grinned sadistically as she let his head fall back down. "You can let that one go," she waved an airy hand at Lazlo, "we don't need him. Put Dingo in one of the vehicles and let's go." Jennifer turned and headed back to where they had hidden the ARHANs. This was going to be just lovely.


	12. Surprise

Angela stood in the hanger dressed in her flight uniform, her hands behind her back. Next to her stood Tiffany, wearing the uniform like Angela's now. Becky had informed them that with the changes to the second ARHAN, Tiffany's old uniform would not work any longer. They had been called into the hanger by Becky a few moments before, having informed Angela that the ARHANs were complete and ready for inspection and testing. It had been almost a month since the engagement and Angela was anxious to see the completed work. The grinding of steel against steel brought their attention to the center of the room. First the heads, the Artemis on the left and the new ARHAN on the right, appeared as the lift brought two up from the facilities below. The Artemis had been cleaned up and repaired nicely, its white plating shining in the light. The second still looked like one of the DEVA ARHANs except now the superstructure was protected by the same blue plating as the Artemis. Angela hadn't noticed before how much taller the Artemis was compared to the DEVA models until now with the two stood side by side.

Becky appeared before the two as the ARHANs finally finished their ascent. Angela nodded at her then looked over to Tiffany. "This," she waved at the shorter machine, "is your new ARHAN. Code name, Diana." Tiffany eyes were focused on the Diana with a childlike glint. "It's equipped like the Artemis which has a few features that you might not be familiar with. For starters, Becky has installed electronic counter measures in case DEVA gets the idea to try to listen in on our communications like Dingo and I were doing in the engagement."

Tiffany blinked in shock as she turned her head to Angela, "You mean, you were listening to us?" Angela nodded. "No wonder it seemed like you knew what we were doing. Because you did!"

"That's right, and we aren't going to let them do the same thing to us."

"What else?"

"Diana is equipped with a little special piece of equipment I want to make you aware of," Angela voice sounded a bit harsh. "Dingo trust you are ready to help us, and I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because of your situation, but Becky has installed a shut down that will take Diana off-line should you think of using it to get back in DEVAs good graces."

"Angela," Tiffany didn't seem surprised, "I wouldn't…"

Angela silenced her with a lifted hand. "Let's hope we don't have to use it. Anyway, both the Artemis and Diana have linked targeting systems, one ARHAN can tag targets for the other for missile lock and range finding. The original ARHAN design was to rely less on operators and more on pilot co-operation. This helps Becky operate more ARHANs than your average DEVA operator. She'll be able to provide tactical information to us at the same time and can bring the input from each together as required." Angela lifted her arm to call up her holo-display, images of the Diana appeared as Tiffany looked on. "There is a ten percent increase in speed, five percent increase in maneuverability with a fifteen degree tighter turning ability. The cockpit is also stabilized to handle three more G's than the DEVA models. As I found with Artemis, this is going to take some acclimation on your part." Tiffany nodded but couldn't help notice the way Angela spoke about the ARHANs, almost as if they were individuals and not just things.

"Can I ask you something, Angela," Tiffany looked from the display.

"Yeah," Angela dropped her hand to close the display, "what is it?"

"What made you do it? Why didn't you complete your mission?"

Angela hadn't quite expected the question, in the past few weeks she hadn't exchanged much personal information with Tiffany. "Well," she seemed to think, "I guess it was my moral code." She smiled as thought of her escape with Frontier Setter through DEVA cyberspace. "I couldn't let them destroy Frontier Setter. He just wanted to complete his mission and it was a peaceful mission. He wasn't a threat."

"You keep calling the AI a he, like it was," Tiffany's nose wrinkled a bit, "human."

Angela closed her eyes with a heavy breath, "Dingo thinks he was." She paused slightly, "And I think Dingo was right. Frontier Setter was probably more human than you or me until we broke free from DEVA."

"But," Tiffany had a slight disgust in her voice, "we are human, it was just a machine."

"So you think?" Angela wasn't able to contain her discontent with Tiffany's attitude toward the AI, the person, she considered her friend. "The people on the surface think we people from DEVA are just a bunch of ones and zeros stored on a digital disk."

"But," Tiffany tried to continue her argument.

"No," Angela shook her head, "don't, Tiffany. If you are going to work with us, you have to start thinking differently. It'll take some time."

"You seem to have adjusted well," Tiffany cast her gaze to her hands as she folded them together in front of herself.

"Well," Angela's voice was now calmer, "I had Dingo to help me. He helped me understand the way things worked down here, or at least how they should work."

"Is Dingo…" Tiffany started to ask but she could tell Angela knew they question before she finished.

"What?" Angela sounded shocked, "Dingo? Me? No, nothing like that." Angela shook her head as she felt the blood fill her cheeks. The topic caused her to wonder when Dingo was going to be back. His trip to Jed to meet Lazlo was only supposed to be five days and he had been gone for a full week now. She was starting to get worried about him, but had pushed it to the back of her mind. She knew Dingo was capable and he'd be back before she knew it.

Tiffany's voice shook her out of her thoughts, "So, should we test the ARHANs?"

Angela just gave her a nod and headed to the Artemis. With a salute to Becky she called down the seat and climbed on. As the cockpit enveloped her, she noticed new information on the display that linked back to the Diana. Operational capability, energy levels, current load out, ammunition counts and even Tiffany's vitals. Just above the vitals was a holo of Tiffany's face as if she was looking directly at Angela. Angela noticed she could see the cockpit pan around behind Tiffany as she looked around at her own displays, but her eyes never appeared to leave Angela's.

"Wow," Tiffany gasped, "DEVA could really use some of this stuff." Angela cut her eyes to the woman's image. "I didn't mean it like that," Tiffany assured her.

Angela shook her head, "Alright, let's get airborne. Becky," Becky's face appeared before her, "open the hanger."

Daylight spilled into the room as the doors above split and the sand that had covered them cascaded down on them. Angela launched the Artemis up and out, sailing into the sky followed closely by Tiffany in the Diana. Angela could tell the increased thrust had shocked Tiffany as her green eyes widened in surprise. Angela cut the Artemis off to the side in a sharp turn and gave a wordless command for Tiffany to follow. The two swerved and weaved around each other as Tiffany was becoming accustomed to the new feather light controls. As she finally got it under control, they moved on to getting use to the targeting systems. The tactical system showed Angela that whenever Tiffany brought lock on her, the Diana's weapons were disabled. She stifled a small smile, Becky had thought of everything in case she had made the wrong decision about her new partner.

There was a sudden alert in Angela's display as Becky's voice came across, "Angela, Tiffany. Incoming, twelve o'clock!"

The holo-display tagged multiple missiles as they streaked toward her. Angela brought her weapons on-line and fired at the incoming fire as Tiffany responded the same. There were a number of explosions as the energy blast struck down most of their intended targets. However, three managed to make it through. Angela split one direction and Tiffany the other, both still firing at the missiles, causing them to explode as well or miss their intended targets.

"Becky," Angela called out, "where did that come from."

"I've got nothing on my sensors," Becky replied with a swift shake of her head.

Angela scanned the area visually looking for the source. Off to her right and above her, she saw five black dots in the distance. She upped the magnification to get a better look. It was five black and orange ARHANs headed their way. "Becky, there!" she indicated with a point.

"I see them," Becky replied, "I cannot get a sensor lock on them. They must be deploying some sort of stealth technology."

"SpecOps?" Tiffany gasped. "They didn't even bother to send the other squad back after you?"

"That's not SpecOps," Angela shook her head, "unless they have new ARHANs. Becky, can you get a fix on their communications again."

"Working on it now, 30 seconds."

"Good. Deploy weapon pods," she had Becky keep them ready at all time now since her last encounter. "Tiffany," she looked at the other woman, "are you ready for this?"

Tiffany nodded, "It doesn't look like they want to talk so I guess so."

"…Olga, Shweta, split left and come around to support the other two. I'll keep their attention here," Jennifer's voice cut over Tiffany's.

"Roger," the two women confirmed.

Angela's display indicated that Becky had launched three pods for each her and Tiffany. Her tactical display was updated with the location her pods would land and she streaked toward them. She could tell Tiffany was reviewing her own tactical display before heading off to one of her own pods. As Angela approached the pod burst open and she retrieved a large ballistic rifle and a missile rack that attached itself to the Artemis on the left shoulder. Tiffany recovered to submachine gun like weapons and headed in.

"Angela," Becky appeared again, "I am able to use their communication signal to keep tabs on them and it appears that the stealth technology is only effective against radar, the missiles I have deployed are laser guided."

Angela nodded. "Tiffany, keep moving, but try to paint the lead for me."

"Affirmative," Tiffany said.

Jennifer's voice cut back in, "Elizabeth, Shweta, divert to the weapon pods. Do not let them recover any more. Ours are inbound, 60 seconds."


	13. Final Conflict

Clouds of dust reached high into the heavens above the battle field as the two sides maneuvered for advantage and protection. The Artemis and the Diana were outnumbered, and soon to be out gunned as sensors indicated that the enemy weapon pods would touch down in mere moments. Both Angela and Tiffany were doing their best to keep out of the sights of the other five ARHANs as they tried to bring their own weapons to bear against the ever shifting targets while also protecting their own weapons. Angela's display lit amber to give indication that the Diana had tagged a target with its laser. She swung the Artemis around and fixed on her target. The ARHAN was moving to intercept Tiffany as she moved toward the incoming weapon pods, Angela pulled the trigger and watched six white trails streak toward her target. One missile struck the black bodied ARHAN as the others followed the now misaimed laser from the Diana and when the smoke cleared Angela gasped.

"It didn't even dent it!" Angela sounded amazed.

"Angela," Tiffany chimed in, "Olga is on your six. Break left."

"I got her," Olga's voice cracked with confidence. Angela thrust the Artemis left barely dodging the two missiles that almost struck her back. "They're fast," Olga commented. "I think faster than before."

"Cut the chatter," Jennifer commanded, "We're still faster. There is no way they can compare to the Hera's." Jennifer let loose her own volley of missiles toward Tiffany as she spoke.

Tiffany trained her guns on the incoming missiles and opened fire, knocking them out of the air moments before impact. The ensuing explosions rocked the Diana jarring her violently in the cockpit. Another jolt came as one of the enemy weapon pods crashed to the ground right next to her. She made a control change to bring her guns onto the offending object but wasn't fast enough. The case had already opened and Chun had cleared the distance to recover the massive sword from the inside.

"Not so fast, bitch," Chun swore at Tiffany, unaware the other woman could hear her. She swung the open pod at the Diana. It struck with a resounding crack as both pod and ARHAN tumbled across the ground. The was no hesitation as she powered her ARHAN forward, blade held high. She crashed down next to her fallen foe. She sent the sword slamming down as Tiffany tried her best to recover her footing. With a small explosion the blade cut through the gun in Tiffany's left hand, barely missing the hand itself.

Tiffany thrusted across the ground on her back before lifting up to her feet. "They are so much stronger," Tiffany was panting. "How do we keep up?"

"Becky," Angela addressed their operator, "We need to out maneuver them. Any suggestions."

"There is a group of canyons in the hills to the east," Becky called up a display for the two women showing a topographical map of the surrounding area. Three large canyons cut through the ground in a snake like meander. "It will take five minutes at full speed."

Angela and Tiffany both nodded at the image of Becky then looked to each other. "Get your second pod and break out," Angela directed. "I'll cover you and be right behind you." Tiffany nodded at her and sped off. Angela brought her rifle up and began firing toward the ARHAN that was closing on Tiffany's second pod. Without targeting assistance, she had to rely on her own skill. She took aim and pulled the trigger twice. She watched with satisfaction as the slugs ripped through the armor on the ARHANs left arm. If she couldn't penetrate the chest or back, at least she could cripple it.

"I thought this new armor was supposed to stop this," Elizabeth growled. She lifted the damaged arm and returned fire. Angela maneuvered out of her line of fire, still send rounds down field at her. Two more struck home, one of them managing to sever the servos that controlled the hand of Elizabeth's ARHAN causing her to drop the weapon she held. "Damnit," she swore loudly. "Changing up!" She abandoned her attempt to stop Tiffany and jetted off toward a new weapon pod to recover a replacement. She slammed it backwards as she pulled out another long rifle forming a shield between her and Angela, just in time for Angela's missiles to strike it harmlessly.

"Tiffany," Angela called, "move it!" The spent missile launcher fell to the ground as Angela moved swiftly to her second pod. Shweta was already there tearing into it. Angela cursed as she sent the last rounds of the rifle streaking at her. With another curse, she cast the spent weapon to the side and switched to her internal weapons. The bolts of energy struck the weapon pod and attacking ARHAN, both only showing small burn marks as they glanced off. She gave the Artemis maximum thrust and sent it crashing into Shweta. The collision rocked her to the bone as the other ARHAN skid across the ground. "Becky," Angela called, "pop it!" The pod opened violently and two large gauss cannons flew into the air as Angela rocked toward them. The cannons fit snuggly over the Artemis' hands with their ammo packs hung low. She pulled one up as she flew over Shweta, with the barrel inches from her target, she fired. The round rocketed out of the barrel with enough force to rip an arm and leg off of the Hera it had struck. Angela could hear Shweta's scream over the communication line. She fired the other cannon, this time the round cut down the back of Shweta's ARHAN, ripping out the communication array. If she hadn't recalled yet, she was stuck now, Angela grinned. "Becky, do we have any more gauss cannons?"

"Yes," Becky acknowledged.

"Deploy it to the canyon, do your best to schedule it with Tiffany's arrival." Becky just nodded. Angela moved away from the fallen machine and headed to follow Tiffany to the cannon. Two of the four remaining were already in pursuit as well, the other two were now heading toward her, trying to cut off her escape.

"I'm positive this is Angela," Jennifer stated. "Elizabeth, stay with me, keep her distracted while I finish her off. You two, follow that other ARHAN. My guess is Tiffany is piloting, you should be able to handle her. Both of these traitors die today."

"You always wanted to prove yourself, Tiffany," Angela noted. "Here's your chance, get them to the canyon. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Rodger," Tiffany nodded at her as she watched headed full speed to the new battlefield. Becky had launched the new weapon pod for her and now she turned her attention to it. "Becky," the older woman appeared in her heads up display, "can you give me an indication of possible impact?"

"Unless something happens," a bright red blip appeared on the map of the canyon, "it should land within 1 meter of this location."

Angela watched her monitors of the Diana and Tiffany as they moved off into the distance. Her attention was brought back to her situation as her sensors screamed, warning her of an incoming blast a moment to late as it struck her square in the chest blasting way large chunks of armor. She leveled her cannons at one of the closing ARHANs and fired. The rounds went wide as her target moved left, closer to the other ARHAN. Two more blast struck the Artemis, causing more damage to the armor of the chest. Angela could see parts of her display beginning to fail and knew she had to get to the canyon if she was to help Tiffany and get help herself.

"Turbo," Jennifer's voice was oddly bright, "they are running for the canyons just like we planned, be sure you bring our little surprise there. I want her to see this."

"Got it," a man's voice answered.

"The canyon!" Angela exclaimed. "It's a trap? Tiffany!"

"Angela!" Tiffany called back. "They have traps set up, they are blowing the walls down around me!"

"Damnit," Angela cursed. She rushed toward the two ARHANs that had her cut off from Tiffany, she was going to have to break through. She fired the gauss cannons again as she dodged the fire from her enemy. Angela couldn't believe what she saw next, just as a gauss slug was about to rip through one of the ARHANs, its pilot grabbed the one beside it and pulled it into the path of the round. Angela stared in shock as the round tore through its unwitting target and embedded itself into the ARHAN behind it.

"Elizabeth is down," Jennifer's was cold and remorseless. "I don't think she had time to recall."

A sudden regret washed over Angela as she streaked the Artemis past Jennifer. She had used her own teammate as a shield to minimize the damage to her own ARHAN, and hadn't missed a beat as she reported Angela's responsibility for that death. A lump formed in her throat as she spoke, "Becky," she fought back the lump, "she, she pulled her teammate into it."

"No time, Angela," Tiffany's image appeared. "I really need help out here!"

Angela scowled at herself, "Right, on my way. One minute." To Angela that minute felt like an hour as she closed in on the canyon with Jennifer in close pursuit taking shots as the presented themselves. As Angela crested the first canyon she could see that it was filled with dust and debris. Her sensors indicated that Tiffany was down there, off to the right and the feed coming from the Diana showed the other two ARHANs closing in.

"Becky," Angela watched as the woman reappeared, "can you get me patched into their comms?"

"If you want," Becky nodded.

"Do it."

"Good to go."

"Jennifer," Angela screamed at her display.

"What the Hell," Jennifer was clearly shocked to hear Angela's voice. She seemed even more surprised when Angela's face appeared in her heads up with her cyan eyes seemingly gazing straight at her. "How did you," she didn't get to finish.

"Why?" Angela interrupted. "You sacrificed your own team member to save your own skin!"

"I don't know how you got through our encryption, but it doesn't matter," Jennifer ignored her accusation. "Your life is forfeit."

"No, I won't let you win. DEVA should have never come after me. They should have left me here in this material body to rot away like the rest of humanity."

"You are a liability, you and your little friend, Frontier Setter."

"Frontier Setter is gone; he'll never bother DEVA again."

"If the rouge AI is gone, then who is giving you the tactical support to pilot that ARHAN."

"Artemis doesn't need tactical support," Angela lied. "He knows what he's doing without it. But you, you through that officer to her death. Too scared to lose something you don't even care about. What does that body mean to you? You could have just recalled."

"Not until you are dead. I will not return to DEVA until my mission is complete. Unlike you, traitor."

"Or is it cannot? Is it that DEVA won't let you recall until I'm dead? So that's why you killed your friend?"

"Is that true?" Olga's face appeared on the display.

"It's nonsense," Jennifer spat.

Angela switched her comms to Becky only, "Becky, can you call up the combat recordings?"

"Yes," she nodded before disappearing again.

Angela switched back over, "You call this nonsense?" She toggled the recording. All on the battlefield watched as the attack unfolded in slow motion. Angela watched as Olga and Chun looked on in disbelief, their eyes widened with each tick of the counter. "This is murder!" Angela accused.

"This is war!" Jennifer retorted.

"No it isn't," Angela shook her head, clearly getting livid. "This is some stupid vendetta against an insignificant asset that was set to forget all about DEVA." Angela's display indicated that Jennifer was still closing, but the other two had appeared to stand down. "You appear to be all alone now, Jennifer. Stand down and no one else will get hurt."

"Ha!" Jennifer's voice carried a hint of madness. "Olga, Chun. Complete your mission. Kill the other traitor."

"You," Chun stared into emptiness, "you killed Elizabeth. She was your friend, your, your second."

"Officers," an operators voice came over the comm now, "return to your mission or your ARHANs will be shut down and you will be recalled for immediate evaluation."

"But," Olga began but didn't get to finish.

"Repeat," interrupted the operator, "Return to your mission or prepare for recall."

Both Olga and Chun appeared to look at each other on their individual screens. With a nod, Olga spoke, "System Security, this is Third Officer Olga Aerovick, prepared to recall."

"System Security, this is Third Officer Chun Su, prepared to recall," Chun nodded again, this time as if directing it toward Angela. "Good look, Third Officer Balzac." With that both women disappeared from the displays as their ARHANs went limp and fell to the ground in massive heaps.

"More traitors!" Jennifer's eyes were narrowed in anger and hate. "That's okay, because I know what you want Angela. And before I see you dead, I'll be sure you get to see it taken from this filthy, disgusting ball of mud. Turbo, bring out our little gift."

Angela's display indicated movement on the opposite canyon wall. Two men moved into view, one was balding and heavy set with a thick grizzled beard. He pushed the other one in front of him, the man's hands bound behind his back. Angela enhanced the image. It was Dingo, tied and severely beaten, barely conscious. He was forced to his knees where he almost collapsed, held up only by Turbo wrenching his arms up behind him. He placed a pistol to Dingo's head.

"No!" Angela's voice cracked as she watched the scene unfold. "No, don't!" she pleaded again.

"I'll tell you what, power down, accept your fate and he will live. Resist and I will let you watch him die."

Angela looked at the scene again, Dingo looked up as if staring right at her. She enhanced the image more, pulling in on Dingo's bruised and bloodied face. She could barely see his eyes through his swollen lids, those violet eyes she had adored even before she realized what he meant to her. They burned fierce, even in his current state. Then she saw it, that stupid, awful smirk she loved so much. Without words he had told her he was willing to die now to let her continue to fight. Angela's head dropped from the image. She looked back up as she picked up her arm and chopped her hand slowly in the air, the Artemis mimicked her movement.

Slowly, the Artemis rested to the ground and bent low as its systems began to power down. First the weapon systems, then all of the targeting followed by the electronic countermeasures. All that was left was the communications and the display when she looked back up at Dingo, tears forming in her eyes. Should couldn't let him go like this. He was a victim of circumstance and she couldn't let him die for her failure, because she knew, she had failed him.

"Good," Jennifer's face leered at her. "Now," she moved her ARHAN next to Angela's, "Turbo if you would be so kind."

A lot of things happened at once. Angela heard the gunshot ring out. Dingo fell forward. The ground below Turbo exploded backwards as his body followed. The Diana was airborne having discarded the gauss cannon and blasting the ground with its energy cannons. The Artemis was fully powered up with all systems on line as a blast struck it in the back knocking Angela into the canyon with Jennifer's Hera in pursuit.

Before the Artemis struck the ground, Angela righted it and dashed above the canyon walls. Her eyes were streaming now; she couldn't believe what had just happened. All she saw now was red, not for the damage indications on the Artemis' displays, but from the anger that welled up inside her as the tears cascaded down her cheeks. Her words came in a choked, cracked scream, "You will pay for that, you bitch!" The Artemis cast off the gauss cannons and launched forward to crash into the briefly surprised Hera. The two machines collided with a shower of sparks and bent metal. Artemis' arms came up to hook the hands into the armor plating where Hera's shoulder met the chest. With a mighty heave, Hera was sent crashing to the ground, it left a rut as it skidded to a stop in its back. There was little time for reaction, the Artemis was already rocketing down. Its hands tore into the Hera again to rip a limp arm from its mount.

Jennifer growled in her cockpit, as she brought the other arm up and fired with her energy weapon. The bolt blasted through the Artemis, barely missing the cockpit. Angela didn't even notice the sensory input from that side of the cockpit was gone, replaced with the cool white of the cockpit. She gritted her teeth against the vibration and continued her assault, pounding on the exposed chest of the Hera. Jennifer responded with another blast that knocked the Artemis clear of her.

Angela slammed against the side of her cockpit. Now dazed and bleeding where she had hit, she shook her head in an attempt to clear the buzzing noise caused by the impact. Tears and blood now crowded her vision. Something struck her from her blind side, toppling the Artemis as she was trying to recover it. She turned it onto its back as she hit the ground, and again was tossed from the saddle. This time when she hit, her left arm was caught under her with a resounding crack. The pain of the broken limb shot through her body as she let out a scream.

"Give up, Angela," Jennifer demanded. "Give up and do something right for a change and die."

"Not now," she swore, "not ever!" She recovered herself and brought the Artemis to bear again. "DEVA will not win. DEVA is not the final answer for humanity!" She thrust forward, her arm protesting its duty to the controls but she forced it to obey.

The two machines collided again as their pilots pushed them past their breaking points. Angela jammed the controls and engaged her thrusters to push the Hera back to the cliff of the canyon. She pushed as hard as she could push, then pushed some more. Pieces of the Artemis started to buckle under the strain, but she refused to give up. Blood was what she wanted, blood was what she was going to have. Then she saw it, the Diana was maneuvering into position, having recovered one of the discarded gauss cannons. Angela smiled.

"Tiffany, now!"

The gauss cannon cracked as the projectile hurled out the barrel. Jennifer tried to maneuver away, but to no avail. Angela held her firmly in place, prepared to take the shot as well. The round struck the Hera solid in the back and ripped through the armor and exploded out the chest. It continued into the Artemis knocking Angela and her machine backwards away from the ensuing explosion of the final Hera. Angela crashed to the ground again, her display flickered numerous colors as the text blurred and streaked across. It took her a moment to regain her senses. She had survived the impact.

Barely functioning, the Artemis was still able to stand. Angela jumped it into a weak, sputtered flight over to the other side of the canyon, bringing the machine as close to Dingo as she dared. She stumbled out of the cockpit holding her left arm tight to her body, blood stained her hair and uniform. With feeble steps she made her way over to where Dingo lay face down in the dirt, motionless. Angela dropped to her knees beside him before the sobs started again. With the last of her strength spent she collapsed beside him as her vision darkened and the world faded to black.


	14. Epilogue

Angela sat in a small white room with her arm in a sling. Her face was stricken with sadness as she stared off into the far wall. The rhythmic beep of the machine next to her was the only solace she found currently. As long as it continued to beep, everything would be alright. Still dressed in her bloodied uniform with her hair still holding onto the dried blood that had colored it thanks to her injury. A bandage wrapped around her head hid the stiches that Becky's medical drones had given her. Other than the medical attention she had received when she first got back to the base, she hadn't moved from the chair she now occupied except when her body forced her to tend to its physical needs. Tiffany had been bringing her food, which she had barely touched in the week she had spent there, seated next to the small bed that took up most of the room.

On the bed lay Dingo. His head wrapped much like hers with tubes stuck in his arms and up his nose. The drones had done what they could for him, but he remained unconscious. A silent reminder to how close to death he had been when they had finally gotten him back. Angela was distraught and had to rely on the other two to tend to Dingo. To save his life. Now, the question was when was he going to wake up, if he was going to wake up.

The door to the room slid open and Tiffany entered with a tray in her hand. She sat it on the small table next to Angela and looked down at her. Angela had never looked more like a small child like she had for the past week she spent next to his bed. She felt sorry for the girl, she could tell that each passing day was harder on her than the last. Carefully, she placed a hand on Angela's shoulder. Angela didn't look up.

"Angela," she said softly, "there is nothing you can do here. Go, get a shower and some sleep. Some real sleep."

Angela shook her head, "I can't leave him." She frowned at herself. "It's all my fault."

"No it isn't," Tiffany shook her head. "Come on."

"I'll stay here," Angela looked up, "thanks."

Tiffany sighed as she shook her head. It had been the same conversation since Angela had sat down here. Each time achieved the same results. With a quick look at Dingo, she turned and walked out the room to leave Angela in her sorrow. It was all any of them could do now, just wait. Wait and hope DEVA didn't try again. It would be a month, if not more, to repair the damage to the Artemis, even with the parts they had salvaged off the two recovered Hera ARHANs.

Angela leaned her head down against Dingo's shoulder, tears threatening to start again. She did want to shower and sleep, but she didn't want to leave his side. She reminded herself that he wouldn't leave hers. At least, she believed he wouldn't. She let her eyes drift closed as she listened to that steady beep that indicated life still beat in his chest. She breathed deep, taking in his scent, comforted by his closeness.

"Did we win?" Dingo's voice was horse and sudden.

Angela sat bolt upright, even the pain in her arm seemed to vanish at the sound of his words. She looked down at him, tears forming. His violet eyes were bright and lively, focused on her. "D, Dingo?" Angela asked in disbelief.

He groaned a bit, "Yeah." He smirked at her, "I feel awful. I guess getting shot in the head will do that to you."

Angela squealed in joy as she threw herself down on top of him, using her good arm to hug his head next to hers. "I can't believe it," she cried. "You're awake."

Dingo wrapped his free arm around her, "It's okay Angela. It'll take a little more than that to finish me off. But I think I owe Tiffany a thank you. If she hadn't risked that shot, I think Turbo's bullet would have hit its intended target."

"I did, didn't know what I was going to do," Angela still sobbed now with her head buried into his shoulder.

Dingo smoothed the hair on the back of head, partially to comfort her, mostly to get the wild strands out of his face. "Angela, calm down," his voice was soft, reassuring. "It'll be okay."

She nodded weakly as she stifled the sobs. "I thought I had lost you without ever being able to tell you…" Angela's voice shook. Dingo waited for her to continue. "I love you, Dingo. Even if you are an idiot."

Dingo smiled at the ceiling, there was the Angela he knew. "I know," he hugged her a little firmer. "I love you too, Angela." She smiled now. "I just don't understand how they got the drop on Lazarus and me. We both scanned the area before we got there."

"Stealth," Angela informed him without picking up her head. "Their ARHANs didn't show up on scans."

"I see," Dingo said thoughtfully. "Well, something else we have to look out for if they come back."

Angela just nodded. If they come back, the words rung in her mind. Would they come back? If they did, they wouldn't be sending a small force next time. No, they would come in droves, sending every available officer at their disposal. Angela knew this. DEVA learned from their mistakes, and the definitely would know better than to under estimate her and Dingo next time.

 _Let them come_ , she thought bitterly. _We'll be ready for them. Dingo, me, and Artemis, the Paradise Hunter_.

* * *

 **A/N: There you have it. I hope you enjoyed it. There are some minor grammatical errors and word ommissions I need to fix but I had fun write this and wanted to share it as each part was done so editing was minimal. I have an idea for another story that follows this one. See you then**


End file.
